


Not a Bodyguard

by Rvlakia



Series: Nobody is a Bodyguard, Really [1]
Category: The RageGaming Crew
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Friendship, Gen, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Misgendering, Mystery, Not Beta Read, Plotting, Slow Build, fan-focussed, lots of cameos, sort of, technological utopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-09 00:12:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 72
Words: 146,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11092851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rvlakia/pseuds/Rvlakia
Summary: Hatter works for some of the most influential men in the world - arguably THE most influential - and their associates. But hers is a solitary life led in the shadows and backstreets of the technologically advanced city they live in. That is, until someone who can turn everything she knows upside down is thrown straight at her. At times, quite literally.





	1. Both Feet on the Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reposting of the original story, which was written quite some time ago now (today being June 2017) so be prepared for a lot of outdated references/stuff. Every named character in this is based on a real person from the Crewdom but shouldn't be considered as that actual person. 
> 
> For art related to this story, go here: https://rvlakiawrites.wordpress.com/category/art/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[ PART ONE - SOLID PHASE ]]

The first word that came to mind was 'skyscrapers'.

It wasn't unexpected. No one ever looked at the city and said 'that park is nice' or 'what a historic building'. No, the first thought would always be about skyscrapers, because that was all that there was; irreverent towers encroaching on stratospheric domain, glass panelled sides reflecting only the sibling buildings around them and sometimes the dark sky. A low frequency humming leaked from those containing the Atmospheric Convertors that were integral to human survival, echoing through the gridded streets and down to Ground Level, and thus to her ears.

She hated being down here in the filth with the scum of humanity going about their sordid business, the thick Mist swirling about her feet as if trying to slowly assimilate her body into its flat grey. Given the choice she would be upstairs with the honest people, maybe even at the very top with her legs dangling off the edge of the building. Her face twisted into a tired smile as she remembered the one time she had been allowed to do just that, courtesy of her esteemed employers. But even she couldn't deny that the ground was where she truly belonged, as much as she didn't want it to be so. The smile faded as she tugged the collar of her coat up to keep herself slightly warmer. It had rained not too long ago but the intermittent wind signalled that only a few hours remained before the next storm cycle was due to begin. It was time to get off of the streets.

She had wandered far from her current hideout and it would be just shy of seventy minutes before she reached it. She had plenty of time to think but she chose not to, for thinking led nowhere she hadn't already been; maybe one day the prospects of doing so would be worthwhile, but for now she did not see herself doing anything different than current and doubted that her mind could be persuaded otherwise.

Heeled boots fell on concrete in a rhythmic pattern, the sound ringing out clearly but soon muffled by the dense gases that pooled around her feet. Her peripherals alerted her to the presence of scum hiding past the corners, watching her yet not wanting to come near. Of course they wouldn't, for one glance at her and the aura she gave off told these people exactly who she was and what she did for a living. Not to mention she had taken care of many of them in the past and they knew enough to not forget her face. Well known in these parts and much feared, if not respected. Only idiots or drunkards would dare approach her here.

Suffice to say she was surprised then, when a figure came barrelling out from one of the side streets at full pelt toward her.

"Tch," she clicked as she prepared to toss aside whoever it was that thought it a good idea to attack  _her_ , of all people. Stance ready she began to move aside to dodge the straightforward offense, only at the last minute catching sight of a young girl's frightened face. A single moment of hesitation was all it took, then the two collided in a tumbling crash that elicited a cry of shock and pain from one of them.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" the perpetrator of the accident asked hurriedly as she realised what had just happened.

"Yes, fine," was the curt reply.

A man stepped out cautiously from the shadows of the alleyways, edging closer to the collapsed pair whilst his hands twitched nervously. "Look here, we don't want any trouble! But that girl belongs to us, mercenary! So just hand her over and we'll be on our way!"

"Oh, she's yours, is she?" The taller girl - the mercenary - got to her feet, dusting off her coat as she did so. She glared at the man who withered where he stood. "It doesn't seem like she enjoys your company much."

"But she-"

"Go! Crawl back into the holes you came from, animals!"

The man whimpered slightly and backed away, an action immediately copied by all other onlookers. Soon only the two girls were left in the junction between buildings.

"Are you hurt?" the mercenary asked coldly.

"I- I think my wrist is broken," the other girl replied. She gently tested her left hand and hissed in pain at the movement. "Yes, I believe it is so."

"That's some fancy grammar coming out of you," scoffed the taller. She bent at the knees slightly to come closer to the stranger, examining her closely. This was no ordinary Ground Level child. In fact, it was very likely that she came from one of the upper Levels judging by the high quality clothing that may have once looked very pretty had it not been torn and dirtied from being down in the muck for however long the girl had been there. This was maybe the foolish fancy of some naïve brat who thought that a trip downstairs would be an exciting adventure. It wasn't unheard of for children to go missing in this way; after all, the sheltered young were easy prey for the inhabitants of the lowest living.

The other possibility, whilst horrid and distasteful, yet far more probable, was that she was the victim of kidnapping. She would have to be from 50 at the very least to have been worthwhile, but not above 80 or else the man would have fought harder. The girl was relatively small for her age, which the mercenary now noted might actually be greater than she had originally thought. She had long dark hair tangled down her back and a fringe that might have looked cute had it been neat, but was currently a simple mess that only added to the bedraggled vibe.

"Look," the mercenary began, observing their surroundings to see if there were any men left there, "I'm staying not too far from here. Can you walk?" She eyed her sceptically.

"I can," the injured girl replied, the slightest hint of obstinacy lacing the edge of her voice. She stood, dusting off her clothes in a similar manner as her companion had earlier but with only her right hand, which she then held out to be shook. "You're a mercenary, right?"

"I am." She fingered the badge attached to her lapel which announced her profession, more from habit than worry.

"So I can hire you?"

"I'm not that kind of mercenary."

The girl frowned, lowering her hand. "I don't understand. Mercenaries get paid for anything they are asked to do, aren't they?"

"Sure are, but I meant I'm not the type to work two jobs at once. And seeing as I'm already hired, I can't help you."

"Oh. Well would you at least help me get back to my scraper?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course. I'm not heartless. Even I won't leave some kid out here for the hunters to eat. But enough chatter. Let's get a move on." She strode off eastward in the direction of her hideout. The other girl hurried to catch up, finding it somewhat difficult to keep up with the mercenary’s long strides.

"I don't think I ever introduced myself, did I?" she wondered, looking up at her companion. She held out her hand again, which was taken this time by the slightly reluctant taller girl. "Hello. My name is Kia."

"Hatter. I'm Hatter."


	2. Code for 'Friend'

 

The girl's eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hatter? You're  _the_  Hatter? The mysterious bodyguard to the four most powerful men in the country?" Her excitement was palpable and it threw Hatter off. This wasn't the normal reaction she received; indifference or nervous shaking she could handle, but an awed smile? It wasn't in her field of expertise.

"I wouldn't say they're the  _most_  powerful men in the country..."  _One is definitely more of a child than a man_ , she added internally. "And I'm not a bodyguard either. Besides, it's not that big a deal."

"Not that big a– dear me." Kia sighed in pity akin to mocking. "You don't even know you're a celebrity do you? Well, more of a legend seeing as half the city refuses to believe you even exist." She frowned slightly. "I had thought you'd be male though... Maybe we should call you 'The Hatteress' from now on, then everyone will know you're a woman! No, that sounds dumb."

She was getting too familiar for comfort. "We should move before any of those guys come back," Hatter said abruptly, halting the errant conversation in its tracks. She waited for the idea to register in the girl's mind, which luckily didn't take too long. Finally they began to walk again, much to the pleasure of the mercenary who would have very much liked to have been at her hideout already. She was silent as she walked, but was soon shifting uncomfortably beneath the fixated gaze she could feel on her back. "So why did they want you? Are you famous?" she asked to distract the girl but still refusing to slow to her pace or turn to look at her.

"I'm not."

"Huh. Got connections then?"

"None of importance."

"Get on the wrong side of anyone recently?"

"Only my younger sister, but that is a regular occurrence."

"You must be special order then," Hatter said, the conclusion more for herself than her companion but loud enough for her to hear.

"What do you mean by that?" Kia asked as she added an erratic hop-step into her previously rhythmic walking in order to draw alongside the taller girl.

"I couldn’t say for certain but you’ve probably got some kind of rare appeal, maybe a useful biological adaptation that someone out there wants for themself to study or keep from the world, so they hired those thugs."

"The mercenaries?"

"Please tell me you are being deliberately dumb just to irritate me?" Hatter groaned, shocked by just how extraordinarily clueless her accidental charge was. She didn't reply, simply wearing a confused expression like she hadn't entirely understood the question. "Look, they were bounty hunters. An illegal type of mercenary, if you must, with no qualifications of any kind, that kidnap, ransom or kill people for reputation and money." Not knowing the extent of the girl’s ignorance, Hatter opted to overcompensate with her explanation.

"What a detestable bunch," Kia said with a mildly exaggerated shiver of disgust. "So who was after me?"

"Dammed if I know," Hatter shrugged. "Let's just get you back home and then you can find someone else to protect you." She halted and turned left down a narrow street, not seeing the slightly downcast face Kia wore, soon covered again by the mask of a smile.

Hatter stopped and faced the wall, waiting patiently for the technology to acknowledge her presence. A small blue light switched on and an almost unnoticeable scan took place, lasting under a second but managing to affirm who she was and check her vitals within that time. Finding nothing wrong, the light flickered off.

**_Welcome back, Hatter_** ** _,_** a hidden speaker said, the familiar voice model filling her with a sense of comfort. ** _Who is behind you?_**  it continued, a less conspicuous amber light coming to life.

"A Hollower," she replied smoothly, the answer ingrained in her memory yet leaving a peculiar tingling in her mouth having never actually needed to use this code before.

**_I'll open the door then._ **

"I'm a what?" Kia asked, unsure what had just transpired.

"A Hollower. It's the password for an invited guest." She stepped forward through the new opening in the wall, the corners of her mouth twitching up at the joke. She beckoned for her companion to follow her inside and Kia did so, jumping in surprise as the entrance slid shut after she'd passed. "If I'd said you were a Ragican then you'd be toast by now," Hatter continued, finding the wide-eyed expression on the girl's face hilarious. "A Flukasaur, you'd be added to the roster. But enough about that." She dragged a chair toward her and motioned for Kia to come closer. "Sit."

"That isn't a standard security system," she commented as she obeyed the order, her focus fixed on Hatter all the while.

"Nothing less than military grade for me. It's included in my payroll and everything." She headed to a set of shelves set into the wall, reaching up for a box on the top that Kia knew she would never be able to reach under her own power, unlike Hatter. There was a faint click as the box was opened and rustling as Hatter rummaged through the contents. She removed several items and narrowed her eyes as she read the packets. "What blood type are you?" She cast a questing glance at Kia.

"Uh... No idea."

"Generic painkillers it is then," Hatter said, replacing all but two of the packets back into the box before setting it on its shelf. The smaller packet was opened and proffered to the injured girl. "Take two. They'll not work as well, seeing as they're not specific to your body."

Kia did as she was instructed, swallowing the tiny pills with ease before the mercenary could offer a glass of water. Hatter immediately began binding Kia’s left wrist tightly with the bandage from the other packet as soon as the drugs kicked in; her patient twitched in discomfort occasionally, but that was the only sign that she had any feeling in the joint.

"Sorry about this," Hatter said as she worked. "I don't have any of the fancy stuff you get in a hospital, so this will have to do."

"Well you look like you know what you're doing."

"My mother used to work in medicine," she explained absent mindedly. "I picked up a few things here and there." Silence fell whilst she worked on making Kia's wrist as secure as possible, being careful not to make it any worse. She didn't want to be the one blamed if it never healed properly.

"This is a nice place you've got here," Kia said awkwardly, trying to restart the conversation.

"Is it?" Hatter wondered, glancing around briefly at the three room apartment. It was perfectly furnished, true, and well-lit from the low ceiling by a gentle blue-tinted glow that would follow them around as they moved so that there was no need to manually switch on the lights anywhere. On the opposite side of the room there was a neat looking kitchen without any dated equipment, and in the wall closest to them there were shelves hosting various items. But upon closer examination there was nothing personal to be found, nothing of importance for sentimental reasons, only practical necessities. It was clear that whilst Hatter was sleeping here, she didn't  _live_  here. "I wouldn't really say it's nice, as such."

She secured the end of the bandage before standing up properly. Kia looked at her swaddled wrist, taking note of the new addition to her outfit. She shoved the almost full packet of painkillers into her pocket so that they were on hand for when she needed them next and then returned her attention to her host.

"So are we leaving now?"

"Well..." Hatter looked away sheepishly. "I'm actually waiting for my Level Pass to be renewed." It was a painfully tedious process that every citizen had to suffer through on alternate years, updating their personal information on the government databases and waiting to see if it would clear. Travelling through the scrapers without a Pass was still possible but immensely difficult what with many public facilities revoking access, so Hatter always used the period to do more productive work instead of staying cooped up the entire time.

"How long will that take?"

"A few days at most. You'll have to stay here until then I'm afraid."

"That's..." Kia hesitated for a second before meeting Hatter's eyes. "I will try not to bother you too much then."


	3. Debatable Choice

"What are you doing?" Hatter asked as she returned from the bathroom to find Kia opening and closing all of the cupboards in the kitchen systematically as if she were taking inventory of everything there was to eat.

"Making a sandwich," she replied, opening the fridge again. "You certainly have a lot of food for someone on Ground Level."

"I don't normally live down here, you realise," Hatter frowned, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

"Maybe so, but you're here enough to have your own apartment." She shut the fridge and headed for specific cabinets to retrieve the items she wanted to eat, a knife and a wooden board.

"You can't be serious about that," Hatter said in disbelief as she saw the choice of fillings for the sandwich. Kia held up the knife in a matter-of-fact manner as she explained that she was 'addicted to set honey and couldn't eat the cheap runny stuff even if I wanted to'.

She swiftly sliced the bread roll in two and buttered it, whilst Hatter still looked on in scepticism. "Honey is one thing, but together with peanut butter? That's just not right." She turned slightly green at the prospect.

"You never know until you try it," Kia pointed out, adding the top half of the roll to the sandwich and transferring the whole thing to a plate.

"And you've tried it before?"

"Nope!" She grinned but her confidence didn't help Hatter's at all. "Do you want one too?"

The taller girl waved away the offer. "I'll stick with plain old jam, thank you." Not trusting Kia to make food without doing something strange with it, Hatter directed her out of the kitchen so that she could make her own sandwich; somehow she had been caught in the flow of making lunch, despite the fact that it was actually tea time. She joined Kia at the table, glad that she owned two chairs though there was never any guest to use the other before.

"This is actually really nice," Kia said, seemingly surprised that the strange invention had turned out well despite her implied conviction earlier.

"I'll take your word for it," Hatter replied, then bit into her own roll which had a far more likeable taste, in her opinion.

"It comes with the Kia Stamp of Approval, so you'd better!" She grinned again before returning her attention to the roll. Hatter was happy to just eat in silence, curiously watching the enthused girl she had somehow ended up looking after. She was strange, to say the least, but not necessarily worse off for it. There was an air of adaptability about her, a trait that Hatter worked hard for but still found difficult in many ways. Being able to stay composed when things went wrong was something she struggled with, and always had, so maybe this chance encounter hadn't really been chance, but an opportunity for Hatter to learn to keep her heart together in one, sound piece.

And boy did she need that.

When they had finished eating Kia offered to wash the plates whilst her host sought out some spare blankets.

"I only have the one bed," she called from the next room as she deposited the covers there, "so I'll sleep on the floor."

"The famous bodyguard sleeping on her own floor? I won't hear of it!" Kia protested, drying her hands on a tea towel and padding over to the bedroom. "It's _your_ bed; _you_ sleep in it.

"I’m not a bodyguard," Hatter grumbled under her breath as Kia began laying out the blankets in a place she deemed suitable, knowing from the look in her eyes that she'd never get the wilful girl to change her mind about the sleeping arrangements. The mercenary switched into nightclothes in the bathroom as Kia drew the plain coloured blankets over her body and wrapped them around, twisting herself into a cocoon-like affair. When Hatter returned she raised an eyebrow at the sight but said nothing, instead heading straight to the bed and settling there, commanding the light to power down.

It was silent, save for the sound of the apartment's AtCon and gentle breathing. Hatter lay awake long after she assumed Kia had fallen into the clutches of sleep, sorting through the day's events in detail. There hadn't been much that happened before the girl showed up, only a smattering of glaring at hunters that had initially mistaken her for a lost or over adventurous scraper-dweller. Then there was the collision, and an injury, then the food... It didn't seem like much now, but those few things felt like they had filled the entire day.

_Who are you?_ she wondered, shifting onto her side and peering at the dark mass lying on the floor, its back facing her. It really hadn't been wise to bring her here, she realised, as she knew nothing about the girl. She could be a spy for someone working against Hatter's employers, or an assassin sent to remove an unwanted threat. That was what the mercenary would have immediately assumed under normal circumstances, but there was something about her… not something strange, or off, but a feeling that Hatter hadn't encountered before.

It didn't matter though, because in a few days they would be able to enter the buildings proper and the girl would be sent on her way, seeing as the world inside the skyscrapers was the one she was used to. Her idealism surely wouldn't be lost in such a short space of time.

"Hatter?" Kia whispered tentatively. "Are you awake?"

She briefly considered pretending to be asleep, then decided against. "Yes," she replied quietly.

"It's only a few days left until your Level Pass is renewed, right?"

"That's right."

"Good." There was a long and deep sigh, then an almost inaudible murmur that Hatter could tell wasn't meant for her.

" _I want to go home_."

 

* * *

 

The room was dark and it took a while for her eyes to adjust as she strode in, heading straight for the glowing screen on the right-hand wall that somehow contributed naught to the overall light level. She could see nothing on it but knew that streams of information and data and binary were constantly running across the plasma surface, undecipherable by the human eye.

"Hacker!" she said loudly, determined to get his attention on the first try. A young man glanced up at the girl, sliding his goggles down to his neck and twisting in his chair as he recognised her.

"What is it, Hallie?" he asked, not noticeably annoyed by the intrusion; but that didn't mean he approved.

"Boss has a job for you," she continued, seeing him sit a little bit straighter at the mention of their leader. "Here." She held out a clear pouch containing a data capsule and he took it hesitantly, tipping the contents out onto his hand and studying the device.

"What is it?" he asked, not wanting to risk his system by installing something unknown.

"A new sample to tear to pieces. Now hurry up and get on with it."

The hacker's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "Don't take that tone with me. Remember, I don't have to do what you say. You're not the boss here."

"No," Hallie replied, "but I'm Second in Command."

"Probationary," he pointed out.

" _Currently_ ," she smirked, crossing her arms to prove a point. He sighed and waved a hand at her, as if shooing her away.

"Fine. Though why it was you…" he muttered the last part, trailing off as he stared at Hallie out of the corner of his eye.

"Why was it me," she finished for him, "and not _her_?" They simultaneously looked at the north wall and then away again, wary that the person on the other side might have had heard them. "Look, I don't know either," she practically whispered, not knowing whether his neighbour was in or not.

"She's the best field agent, so why wasn't she chosen?" he grumped, turning back to his screen and balancing the capsule on his open palm.

"If you've got a problem take it up when Boss gets back, whenever that might be." She turned on her heel and walked out, catching a glimpse as the door closed of the hacker throwing the capsule into the screen and replacing his goggles, the humming as they powered up a sound only she could hear.


	4. Departure

Hatter woke to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. This had become their routine over the past three days: Kia would make sensible food in return for the hospitality whilst Hatter continued her patrols in the streets. She made sure to come back earlier than she normally would have though, to make sure the defenceless girl was safe and had survived the day alone.

Hatter stretched and sat up, reaching for the computer screen on the wall. She navigated through the system, checking that the apartment was still untouched by outside forces. Once she had done that she looked at her officially recorded details and smiled at what she saw.

"Morning, Hatter!" Kia said as she heard her host walk into the room, turning to face the sound. She paused. "Are we going somewhere? You've dressed up."

She studied the new outfit. Two bandoliers crossed Hatter's chest, carrying capsules of... something. A layered skirt made from light, grey material was held in place by a studded belt lining the lower edge of a dark v-necked shirt that was made for practicality rather than appearance. Over all of this was the black trench coat that the mercenary always donned when she went out, and securely on her head was the top hat that was her namesake but Kia had not yet seen before this moment.

“This is what I usually wear," Hatter replied, tugging awkwardly at the hem of her skirt. "I thought it fit to put on my work clothes, seeing as I'm going back to work in the scrapers." Her mouth twitched upward at the edges as Kia's face slowly registered her meaning.

"Your Pass was renewed! Finally!"

"Woah, slow down," Hatter said, catching her before she ran off and indicating toward the stove. Kia shot her a sheepish grin as she rescued the food, switching off all of the equipment she'd been using and pulling out plates to serve with. With breakfast finally set on the table she sat, the pretence of calmness slightly too thin to hide the excitement.

"Here," Hatter said, sliding a pill across the table. "You'll want to eat that now so it will work when we leave."

"What is it? Another painkiller?" She picked it up, studying the yellow and green coating curiously.

"No. You're from pretty far up the scrapers so it'll be difficult for you to breathe down here, where the Mist is thicker. That," she pointed at the pill with her fork, "will help you. I won't go into details but basically your blood will bond better to whatever oxygen there is, rather than anything nasty."

Kia frowned. "I didn't need it before though."

"Adrenaline. Then you were here, where the AtCon is decent."

"Oh." She paused. "Yes, that makes sense."

She slipped it into her mouth, exhibiting again her ability to flawlessly swallow pills without a drink or other assistance. Hatter briefly wondered how much medication she had taken for her to be that used to it, or whether she simply wasn't bothered by the consumption of pills because of her personality.

They ate quickly, both eager to be on their way. Hatter put the plates away after cleaning them as Kia retrieved her meagre belongings; namely, her painkillers and the worn out jumper she'd been wearing when they met. They convened at the entrance and it hissed open on command, the apartment's ceiling light fading away as they left.

 ** _How long will you be out, Hatter?_** the security system asked.

"I don't know," she replied, not concerned at the vagueness of her answer because it was all that was required.

**_I'll commence Lockdown Protocol then._ **

"Yes." The exchange over, the apartment was sealed and all programs were halted, making it undetectable by any kind of radar. This was what Hatter ordered whenever she was going to be away for a long while, so that when she returned there was absolutely no chance that anyone had worked out where she stayed and was waiting to ambush her there.

"Which way?" Kia asked, waiting for her guide to take her home.

"Southeast. There's a suitable entry point about half an hour from here." The look on the girl's face clearly said that she had no idea which way was south nor east so, sighing, Hatter turned right and began walking.

She glanced behind at Kia, who was following intently like a young duckling, to make sure that she wasn't having any difficulties breathing. Though Hatter had given her the drug earlier she was still concerned; the Mist was far thicker than usual, which wasn't really a problem for her but it might have been for anyone not used to the density on the Ground. Most of the Mist was far up in the atmosphere, pushed away by the convertors, but whatever slipped past gathered below as a potentially deadly mix of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and cadmium vapour, among others things, leftovers from the bygone era of fossil fuels. Apparently some of the gases used to kill any person upon inhalation but Hatter had never heard of someone from Ground Level ever die from the Mist. Scraper-dwellers on the other hand... Well, Kia seemed to be doing just fine.

"Hatter," she said in a quiet voice that was close to but not a whisper. "I think we're being followed."

The mercenary made no fuss, knowing that a noticeable reaction would make everything worse. She had been too focussed on Kia to have realised they weren't alone but now she was alert, noting the presence of at least ten other people nearby.

"Keep calm," she said, signalling for Kia to stop fidgeting in anxiousness. "If we are lucky they might not have any interest in us and will let us pass."

"And if we're unlucky?"

"They'll try to kill me and take you. 'Try' being the key word here."

"Comforting as your operative is," Kia commented as she glanced around discreetly, "I think we're the latter situation."

They stopped, both knowing that Kia's deduction was correct and that they were surrounded, a ring of enemies closing in on the pair. "Stay close," Hatter warned, not wanting to let the girl become more vulnerable than she already was. Figures began to be discernible in the thick greyness and there were menacing swirls of Mist every time they took a step closer. Unlike in the movies, the area didn't suddenly become clear for the oncoming fight, though Hatter mused that such awfully convenient occurrences would help her to see just what she was up against. They didn't seem particularly dangerous, just more of the thugs and lackeys that inhabited the lower Levels. The quantity of them though, that would be a problem. It would be hard to keep track of them all and a civilian at the same time so one lapse in concentration would probably prove disastrous.

Deciding on the best course of action Hatter took Kia's hand in her own so as to keep check of where she was. "We're better off escaping," she said to answer the quizzical look she received from her charge, "so this will make it easier for you to run at the right time." Kia nodded and the mercenary started to study the circle of foes. Almost too helpfully, there was a gap in the ring directly ahead of them. It might have been a trap, but even so it was their best bet to get out of there.

Hatter wanted to take the chance before the gap vanished. She tightened her hand in signal and they both ran at full pelt toward the opening, Kia able to match the mercenary's speed and not lag behind despite her far shorter legs. Their concerns were realised as a previously unseen hunter appeared in the gap, arms open and ready to catch them. Knowing there was no turning back, Hatter muttered to her companion. "Punch him in the stomach," she instructed, hoping the combined power would bowl the man over. There was no time to discuss so Hatter flexed her right hand and let go, instantaneously forming a fist and letting it fly alongside an accompanying one from Kia.

Both hit firmly in the stomach and the air was thrown from the thug's lungs as he doubled over. Kia made to grin at Hatter but too soon, for the man didn't simply fall. Instead he grabbed the wrists he was bent over and there was a whirring noise, followed soon after by a click imbued with finality.

"Gotcha!" he smirked before he was knocked aside by Hatter's other fist. Unable to stand both the stomach and head blows he crumpled in a heap that the two girls leapt over, taking no time to worry about what he'd done in favour of getting as far away as possible.

"They've stopped chasing," Hatter said after a several minutes of running and hiding in damaged sections of skyscraper bases. She listened out for any sound that contradicted what she had said and, upon hearing nothing, relaxed and turned to Kia.

"You can let go of my hand now," the girl suggested between heavy breaths. Hatter started slightly, having forgotten that she was still holding on after all the running.

"Right, sorry," she said moving to let go. A tug on her wrist forced her to look down and she froze. Kia, sensing that something was wrong, followed her gaze.

"Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me!"


	5. Friends in Shady Places

"Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me!" Kia's eyes were wide as she glared down at their wrists, solidly locked together by a set of handcuffs. At least, she assumed they were handcuffs, though she hadn't seen any like this before. They seemed to phase between opaque and transparent, but she quickly noted that they consisted of a pale blue frame in a simple ring format, covered by a fine netting-like substance with a gently fluctuating glow. The curious part of her reached out to touch the constraint, but a repelling force prevented her from actually making contact. "Well that's peculiar," she commented. "Hatter?" She looked to her companion, hoping that she had more information.

Hatter had never seen this before either, though she wasn't quite at loss as Kia was. "It's some kind of pseudo-virtual technology," she said.

"It's a pseuvi? I thought they were only used for transport."

"Yes," her brow furrowed, "so did I." Psuedo-virtual technology had been invented several hundred years ago, when a lab accident had revealed that objects could be made from condensed data structures. Any product was always large, making the tech perfect for infrastructure purposes but not much else. Such a small pseuvi should have been impossible. Yet there it was. Sitting snug on their wrists, not loose and yet somehow not uncomfortable in the slightest.

"How do we get it off?" Kia asked, a worried tone in her voice.

"The lock is probably controlled remotely, and since we're not going back to those scum, we can't."

"But..." Kia looked like she was about to cry so Hatter quickly moved on with her explanation.

"But I think I know who made this, so we can go to him."

"Who?"

"You should know."

Kia looked at her confusedly for a little while and then her eyes widened and her jaw fell. "Oh... _Oh_."

"Good, you got it. Now, as awing as this pseuvi is, there's probably something else to this, so why don't we check out that panel on your cuff?" She indicated to the underside of Kia's wrist where the blue frame was replaced by a solid metal section about three centimetres wide, covering the computer that controlled the data structure.

"You have one too," she pointed out, indicating the matching area on Hatter's cuff.

"Yes; but yours has a button on it, and mine doesn't."

"True." She curiously thumbed the button, and once she got permission from Hatter via a glance and a nod, she pressed it. The small amount of tension on their wrists disappeared and for a second Kia thought, despite what Hatter had said, that the handcuffs had been unlocked. But they were still in place, albeit now separate. Between them ran a thin chain with an ethereal quality to it and unlike the cuffs themselves – as Kia found as she tried to hold the bond – hands would pass through it as though it didn't even exist.

"That sure is something," Hatter commented, peering at the chain. It was difficult to see because of its low opacity and she had no doubt that it would go entirely unnoticed unless one were observant or knew what they were looking for.

"I wonder how long it is..." Kia mused as she moved her arm about, watching the chain extend and retract soundlessly.

"It probably isn't endless," Hatter replied, "but I don't care to test the length right now. We should get a move on." She glanced around to fully get her bearings, finding that they were actually not far from their destination.

She turned back to Kia and looked down at her, their eyes meeting. "Sorry Kia, it looks like you're going to have to stay with me for a few more days, until we can get these off."

The girl seemed downcast but still smiled. "It would appear so... At least my free hand is the one that works," she commented, waving quickly to emphasise her point.

 

* * *

 

It was easy to enter the building, to Kia's surprise. She - like most from the scrapers - was unaware that security checks started at around Level 10 rather than 1, having never used those entrances before. The doors just slid open after minor ‘encouragement’ in the form of Hatter's foot, and they were able simply walk into the somewhat dim space. It looked like a market floor made permanent, with more dubious looking shops than upstairs. Kia kept close to her guide, wary and constantly on the lookout.

She faltered slightly as they passed the elevator and Hatter didn't stop to use it. "Um... Shouldn't we be going up?" she asked nervously.

"I have to make a stop first." Hatter's head twisted so that she could see her. "Don't worry, this won't take too long." She beckoned for Kia to catch up and follow her into one of the shops. The interior was simple, consisting of a small square room with a counter cutting off the last third, and behind that was a closed door. Hatter headed straight over and leant on the counter with her left arm.

"Hey, Matt!" she called. "Get out here already!"

"Alright, alright!" The door opened and a man stepped through, pushing a pair of glasses onto his face. He made no attempt to fix his slightly unkempt hair as he approached, choosing instead to grin. "Hatter. You here for a top up?"

"Yep. I'm completely empty." She unbuckled her bandoliers and handed them over to Matt who was looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Seriously? How much management have you done? Or did you go picking the fights?"

She scowled at him but without any hostility. "I don't pick any fights. The scum are just getting rowdy, what with the appearance of the new faction. Speaking of," her face relaxed, "have you got any news?"

He had been looking over her equipment whilst she spoke and now glanced up, with his eyes only. "Nothing. I can tell you that they're not based in this area, or else they would have made contact already." He straightened up and lifted the bandoliers from the counter. "Right, I'm going to take these; you wait here." With nothing else to say he turned on his heel and exited, closing the door behind him.

Kia had been watching in silence but now spoke up. "Who was that?" she queried, moving closer to Hatter.

"That's Matt. He's a weapons merchant."

"And your informant?"

"Not exactly. He's a police officer, and therefore obligated to help to me."

"Oh." Kia glanced around at the questionable shop. "You wouldn't think it."

Hatter looked down at her. "That's kind of the point."

"Right."

They stood in awkward silence, waiting for Matt to return. It took a lot less time than Kia thought it would and she jumped in surprise when the back door opened.

"Woah, calm down there rabbit," he chuckled.

"It's _Kia_ ," she huffed, embarrassed.

He smiled then turned back to Hatter. "Here you go." As he handed her possessions back his eyes flickered down to her wrist curiously. "What went wrong this time?" he asked, indicating at the constraint.

"Let's not talk about it. But basically, I'm stuck with her for a while." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward Kia before securing the bandoliers where they normally were.

"Why don't you just smash the chip and deactivate it?"

"Because I'd rather not have it explode!" She frowned. "Idiot. It's pseuvi."

"I know that," he replied quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I was just joking. Geez." He lowered his arms and laid them on the counter in a relaxed manner. "Well, say hello to the Commissioner for me."

"I've got to visit someone else first."

"Right, reporting and all that." He waved the matter away. "A delayed greeting is better than none."

"Fine. Stay well, and do your job." He nodded as they turned to go, Kia following close behind. She cast one last glance at the undercover cop as she left, not returning his friendly smile.


	6. The First

Hatter studied Kia through the glass, watching as she made a call on the public phone across the street. The girl was smiling as she talked to her family and reassured them that she was fine. Hatter didn't know exactly what was being said, but it didn't seem like there would be too many problems when she returned Kia home.

Her attention was diverted briefly as a waitress set down a pot of tea on the table.

"Can I get you anything else?" she asked politely, but failing to mask her curious glances to Hatter's attire.

"No, thank you."

The waitress nodded and left, leaving Hatter to watch Kia once more. Rather, watch over her, as the chances that someone would try to snatch her again were high enough to warrant caution. Hatter doubted that the thugs who surrounded them at Ground Level were after herself, meaning their target was her defenceless charge who had no clue at all how interesting she was to... someone. Hatter would pass the case to one of her subordinates later.

Kia put the phone back and began to walk over to the café. The mercenary reclined in her seat, sipping hot tea, yet didn't relax. Level 25 looked passably pleasant but there was still the possibility they were followed by somewhat more reputable thugs, so she couldn't let her guard down. Not that she usually would anyway. She met Kia's eyes as she sat down on the chair opposite, grinning.

"I told them that I'm working with a friend and I'll be home soon," she said. "I tried to keep it a little vague, because I don't know how long we'll be like this for."

"It should only be a few days," Hatter replied as Kia poured her own cup of tea. "I've got to report first, but then we will go and have this taken off." She moved her right hand in indication, though it wasn't really necessary.

They sat silently for a while, reducing their cups to empty whilst watching ordinary people walk by the café. Having finished her drink Kia reached into her pocket and brought out the packet of painkillers, taking two and swallowing.

"Is your wrist hurting?" Hatter asked, concerned.

"Not much, but it was beginning to ache a little more than earlier."

"Let me see?" Hatter put her cup down and held out her hands, patiently waiting for the girl to respond. After a moment Kia proffered her injury. The mercenary removed the bandaging from under the pseuvi cuff, taking care not to jog any part of the arm. The wrist didn't look too bad but it was far from fully healed and the only reason Kia wasn't in pain was because of the meds. She gently lowered her hands so that Kia's was resting on the table and reached to her bandoliers, pulling out one of the capsules, feeling the gaze of her patient watching curiously. It was a thin brass cylinder with a black band around the middle, and at the end was an indent with a cross marked in it. Hatter held it over her companion's cup and twisted the two ends of the capsule in different directions, causing it to unscrew. A clear green, viscous fluid trickled out; then when it was empty, Hatter returned it to its pocket.

"Drink," she instructed, pushing the cup closer to Kia. "It will speed up the healing process." The girl picked it up obediently, grimacing at the bitter taste. She set the cup back down and shuffled the bandage on the table around.

"How are we going to get this back on?" she queried, running the cloth through her fingers.

"We might not need to," Hatter replied. "The cuff seems to be acting as a decent brace." She just had to make sure not to go far enough from Kia that the chain locked, because then the injury would get pulled into deterioration. She took the bandage from the table and tucked it into her coat pocket.

"Are we going?" the girl asked, getting up hesitantly until Hatter joined her in standing.

"Yes." They exited the jovial cafe, heading for a shadowed area at the back of an alley. Unlike the main ones, maintenance elevators were kept out of obvious sight to reduce the number of civilians trying to use them, not that anyone _did_ try. Hatter pressed the call button and didn't have to wait long, the carriage sliding into place quietly.

Please identify yourself and your destination, instructed a female voice.

"Hatter, Level 98," she replied smoothly. There was a brief pause as the AI signal was changed, the following voice now the same as the one at the apartment.

**_Welcome back, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower."

**_I'll open the door then._ **

The elevator opened and they both stepped inside, Kia looking around as she did so. It felt a little strange using a facility that wasn't meant for the public but clearly they were allowed to be there if it recognised Hatter. She put her hand to the wall to steady herself as the carriage began to move; it was marginally faster than the normal ones, but she supposed that was only to be expected, as these lifts could potentially go to any Level in the scraper and weren't limited to a range of ten.

They travelled in silence, Hatter mildly amused by her companion's inability to relinquish the wall. Soon though, the elevator stopped and there was a long pause before the doors reopened, in which time Kia returned to normal standing and anticipated what might be on the other side. They opened, and she stared.

It was a large room, sparsely furnished but still elegant, with expensive looking wall décor. The carpet wasn't overindulgent but certainly thick enough to muffle their footsteps as Kia was led out, still marvelling at the unusual surroundings. Several hallways ran from the room, and from one stepped a smartly suited man who headed straight for them, pulling his tie loose and running a hand through his blond hair to make it slightly dishevelled. He halted in front of Hatter and grinned.

"Well it's about time!"

 

* * *

 

Hallie's eyes opened in a flash as an alarm began ringing throughout their base. Rather, not so much an alarm as a ringtone, indicating that someone was accessing the direct communication line. She stood, not running but definitely going at a good pace toward the central area where several of the members were already waiting in front of a large screen. The calling number was displayed upon it but it wasn't one she recognised. Still, if this person was ringing them then surely they were… not trustworthy, as such, but 'in the know'.

When the communications operator saw Hallie she gave him a nod and he pressed a button to accept the call. She stood directly in front of the screen and was slightly disappointed when no image appeared.

"Yes?" she said, initiating the conversation.

"Hallie," came the acknowledgement, and she simultaneously relaxed and stood to attention.

"Boss," she replied, the familiar voice of their leader causing several people in the room to look up. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, I just don't have access to visual messaging right now." There was a pause. "Everyone, leave the room." The order was followed immediately and with no complaint, leaving behind only a few members that knew they weren't the ones being addressed. "Hallie, is Jessi there?"

"Yes." She peered behind her to the hacker, who was hunched in the corner of the room. He looked up upon hearing his name, pulling down his goggles despite not being able to see their Boss anyway.

"Tell me about your findings."

"It's a good security system," he replied immediately. "High-grade. I'd say military, but I haven't had any records of it so far."

"Did you crack it?"

He glanced away and frowned slightly. "No. It's airtight. I might be able to get in if I had a key from the origin," he suggested.

"And did you find out who that is?"

"I think you know already."

"I do, but humour me."

"Well there was an ID list attached to the program. I've decoded some of it already but not all. The first name there is…"

"Hollow."

He nodded, knowing full well that the action wouldn't be seen but would still be noted by the Boss somehow. "And…"

"'And' what? Who was there that I should know about?"

He glanced to Hallie who raised an eyebrow at his silence. Sighing, she stepped in. "It's the Hatter, of course."

They could almost see their Boss's reaction right then: tilted head, rolled eyes, half smile.

"Figures." There was another pause and Hallie's breathing caught, waiting for the orders she knew were coming. "Jessi, keep on with that sample. Hallie, is Cel there?"

She crossed her arms, not so much in irritation as for psychological security. "Not right now."

"When she gets back, put her on field, passive. I'm counting on you."

"Right." The call cut off immediately after she'd answered, meaning that the Boss had nothing left to say or was pressed for time. Hallie turned to Jessi. "Get those goggles on, hacker, and get to work." She strode out from the room as the rest of the members filed back in, and went in search of their top field agent rather than waiting for her to return, knowing that it could be a few days if she were left to her own devices.

They weren't going to let the Boss down.


	7. Report

Kia's eyes were wide in awe and her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. As if he only just realised she was there the blond man turned his head and studied her. "Who's this?" he asked, glancing back to Hatter.

"Kia," she replied plainly. The girl in question finally shut her mouth for good but hadn't relaxed, nails biting into her palms. She had known, of course, but she’d assumed they were going to have at least a few minutes before meeting Hatter's employer. Now there they were, standing before Fluke himself.

"You shouldn't bring strangers up here, silly bodyguard," he scolded and the response he got was narrowed eyes.

"I am not a bodyguard." Fluke smirked in a way that meant 'I know, but it's funny', causing Hatter to sigh in exasperation. "Sorry; I really didn't have much of a choice." She held up her wrist and it was her employer's turn to sigh.

"What did he do this time?" he asked, then held up a hand to halt the explanation. "You know what; let's take this away from the lobby. The board should have cleared out of my office by now." He indicated for the pair to follow him and headed back down the corridor he'd emerged from earlier. Kia trailed behind the two of them, dividing herself between feeling out of place and being curious about the doors they were passing. From one that was open came the familiar scent that she associated with large computing equipment, but when she tried to peer into the room a member of staff passed by and, frowning at her, shut the door without disguising his disdain for her at all.

Many more corridors branched from theirs, affirming Kia's suspicion that the entire floor belonged to Fluke; it wasn't surprising though, this was quite often the way with the uppermost Levels. If she remembered correctly, he also owned Level 99 and was in custody of 100, according to the articles that sometimes appeared in the public news. The place had an air of efficiency to it and the staff that they passed all seemed to have purpose in their movements, even if they each paused to greet Fluke politely. They were professional and clearly had graduated at the top of their class or close to, making Kia and Hatter stand out in their well-worn clothes.

Eventually they reached their destination and she breathed deeply in relief at not having to face the sceptical glances of the employees anymore. Fluke stopped in front of what was labelled as his office door and waited, reminding Kia of the way Hatter had done the same earlier, and for good reason.

**_Welcome back, Fluke, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"Well at least you haven't dropped _all_ protocol and registered her already," he quipped at a slightly irritated Hatter before saying, "a Hollower."

**_I'll open the door then._ **

"Man, I really wish he'd say something different for once," Fluke complained as he entered, hands sliding into his pockets.

**_Idiot._ **

"We know," Hatter replied, as though it were a completely natural exchange. Kia stared at the doorframe as she stepped through, previously having been unaware just how sophisticated this particular AI technology was. As soon as she was out of the way, the doors slid shut in silence.

Fluke walked past the glass conference table with indifference, straight to his private office which was just as large as the meeting room. The far wall was made of glass too, and it didn't take Kia long to realise that it was the outer edge of the scraper itself, framing the dark sky pierced by even darker towers. At the upper edge the window was being encroached upon slightly by the base of the symbol that made this particular scraper a landmark. Barely any of the sign was visible here, but from every other building it was clearly recognisable that this was the home of the BBC, the largest media corporation in the world.

And Fluke stood there like it was nothing.

"Right, so what happened?" he asked, sitting in a comfortable looking chair and putting his feet up on his desk.

"Short story, I rescued Kia but then we got handcuffed together because _someone_ was an idiot and let his prototype get stolen."

"For a genius he sure does lack common sense sometimes."

" _All_ of the time," Hatter corrected.

"On the upside," Fluke continued, reaching for something in the desk drawer, "at least one of us keeps check of their products." There was a quiet clink of metal and when his hand retreated from the table top there now sat a small pair of silver earrings in the shape of songbirds. "An updated model that we issued while you were away."

Hatter reached for them soundlessly and replaced the plain earrings she was already wearing, handing the old pair to Fluke.

"What are those?" Kia asked as Hatter fiddled with the accessories, getting used to them.

"Twitter communicators," Fluke answered.

"But they're so small!" She mentally compared them to her own bracelet formed version (lost for good during her stay at Ground Level) that was most commonly used by the populace.

"These are more practical," Hatter replied simply, "and off-market."

"Ah, not for long!" He grinned again, amused by Hatter's expression that he could recognise as surprise only because he knew her so well. "We're putting limits on their current functions of course. Once we've collected everyone's back, we start production; Evanz assures me they'll be popular and for once I'm actually believing what he says."

"Well, that _is_ part of his job," Kia pointed out, then shrank in size as two pairs of analytical eyes fell upon her. She knew that Fluke had been monitoring her the entire meeting, piecing together an image of the type of person that had traipsed after his employee into the world's media capital.

Seeing Kia's discomfort, Hatter broke the momentary silence by saying, "And if he didn't know what he was doing by now I wouldn't agree to help him, ever."

"True." Fluke put the old earrings into the desk drawer, filling the empty space that previously belonged to the songbirds. The slight flick of his hand as it returned to sight told Hatter exactly what he wanted and she patted Kia lightly on the shoulder.

"Kia, step out for a moment. I've got to report and - no offense - you aren't allowed to hear this."

"Right, yes, of course, report," the girl replied awkwardly, taking a few seconds before she actually made to leave. She felt Hatter's hand slide from her shoulder as she moved out of reach, but also the steady gazes of two persons that one would never make enemies of, for both were truly perilous in their own ways. Without any more hesitation she was gone from the room, left with only the muffled, unintelligible sounds of speech heard through the wall when the door had hissed shut. She pulled out a chair from under the conference table and sat, soon producing a rhythmic tapping with her fingers that rang through the glass. Otherwise silent, Kia waited patiently for their conversation to end.

 

* * *

 

"That's all you found out?" Fluke queried.

"Unfortunately. Clearly they have some very experienced members if they can hide so well."

"And yet a month ago they slipped up and left traces..." Unlike when Kia had been present, his face was deadly serious as he pondered the situation. "It's almost as if it was intentional."

"There's no 'almost' about it," Hatter replied surely, relaying her intuition. "They let us know they existed; they wanted us to search."

Fluke was on his feet, pacing slowly past the glass wall repetitiously. "So..." He stopped and looked out at the grey cityscape, hands secure in his pockets. "What we have is a new group with skilled members that appears briefly before immediately disappearing again, and we can't find anything on them - not even their name!"

"I'll keep searching whilst I return Kia," Hatter proposed.

"Yes," he turned to face her and stepped forward to his desk. "Eyes and ears open, and when you've gotten rid of that girl we're launching a full scale investigation. Maybe an outside perspective will get us somewhere." The last sentence was directed more at himself but Hatter picked up his meaning perfectly.

" _That_ full scale? We're involving the foreign teams?"

"We can't afford anything less." His eyes met hers. "These people are dangerous, Morgan. Too dangerous to leave be."

"I agree," Hatter concurred without hesitation, seemingly unfazed by the entire situation. It wouldn't be long though, she knew, before the neutrality faded away and her anxiety about the whole business would show. Never before had a group of bounty hunters evaded her for this long so, right now, even the highly advanced shackle humming with data on her wrist was the least of her worries.


	8. 'Hal'

Hallie examined the list of serial numbers on the screen, each one representing a tracking chip belonging to a different member of their group. Usually only the Boss had access to this program, but since Hallie was in command she had been allowed to use it too. She found the number she was looking for and selected it, resulting in the building schematics appearing, a tiny blinking dot telling her exactly where to find Cel. There was a wave of relief when it was clear that they were in the same scraper at least, though it might still take some time to reach her.

Hallie switched the computer off and stepped back, turning on her heel and exiting the room at a brisk pace. She was headed for the main lift, ignoring any dirty glares she received from members that really had no idea why they disliked her, only that other people felt the same. It was a fact that she had grown used to in her tenure there, and she even took pleasure in knowing that not one malcontent could raise a hand against her for fear of the Boss's retribution. The only ones she might consider a threat were Cel and Jessi; but his apathy meant that he wouldn't do anything besides keeping her away from everything he owned as well as himself as much as possible. Ignoring her was also something he did often.

The elevator doors opened as she neared it and the people inside quickly moved out of their commander's way, resulting in her being alone in the carriage save one person who had braved travelling with her despite the fact that he was clearly wound taut just standing a metre away.

"Level 90," she said in a clear voice, purposefully intimidating the man by facing the doors but keeping her stare upon him. He shuffled and said nothing, and Hallie couldn't help but smirk as he focussed on the floor in order to avoid any further eye contact. The remainder of their journey was uneventful, with nobody else trying to use the elevator. It had been custom built after all, and according to official records it didn’t even exist.

With a squeak of relief the man bolted through the doors as soon as they were open far enough to let him through, having reached Level 90. Hallie followed at a more conservative pace, aware that she was now on public property and attracting attention would do her no good. The commander navigated her way out from the secluded alleyway that the lift stopped at and into a noticeably busier thoroughfare. At the well signposted and active elevator port not far from her one pair of doors slid open and, waiting for the few occupants to leave, she stepped inside.

"Level 80," she instructed clearly, letting out an audible sigh as the doors took forever to close. It was irritating to travel this way but at least the lift music was unique to each carriage and wouldn't drive her insane.

That and three more journeys found Hallie to her place, where she felt herself grimacing at some features yet simultaneously being incredibly invested in others that hummed enticingly with electronics. Exactly halfway up every scraper was situated the one floor entirely dedicated to entertainment and games along with the train stations, whose pseuvi tracks were the only public link between other buildings apart from Ground Level, resulting in a bustling atmosphere thick with the presence of people. The perfect place for someone to go unnoticed.

Bringing up a floor plan she had saved in her memory Hallie aligned it with what she was currently seeing, getting her bearings and mapping out where the buildings were situated on the blueprints. Continuing that she set off with purpose toward the southern side of the scraper to where Cel's tracker had been, all the while avoiding contact with people as much as was possible and ignoring the bright signs indicating which game stations and other establishments were where. Only when she neared her target did the commander pause and let the blueprints fade, raising an eyebrow at the teddy-themed café she was standing outside of. The door set off a gentle tinkling noise as she hesitantly opened it, alerting the attendant to her presence.

"Welcome!" she said cheerfully, skipping over to help. Hallie took a minute step back, unsure what to think about the European-styled maid outfit the attendant was wearing, let alone the fake bear ears perched on her head. "Are you here alone today?"

"Umm... No, my... friend... is here already. A girl, dark hair, around this height," she indicated about her shoulder level. "She looks to be in primary," Hallie added, though in reality she herself was the younger of the two.

The permanent smile on the maid's face widened as she noted the description. "Ah yes, she hired out one of the back rooms. This way." She led Hallie past the tables busy with customers drinking their tea; clearly they were all comfortable with the stuffed toys that lined the walls. "Obviously we wouldn't usually let such a young child hire a back room, but she's a regular here and a trustworthy girl, so we let her through when she assured us you were coming," the attendant said over her shoulder, not seeing the slight frown on Hallie's face.

"Did she now..." the commander muttered under her breath.

The attendant stopped and knocked on one of the doors at the back of the café, then opened and held it for Hallie, smiling as she passed. When the door shut outside noises were cut off, but she was more interested by the other occupant of the room than in noticing such a fact.

A large portion of the room was filled by an L-shaped sofa covered in plush toys, the floor equally swamped with the only exception being the area up to and around the low coffee table in front of the sofa. On it sat a pot of tea and two cups, one full and the other partially emptied. The fresh scent of vanilla made Hallie crinkle her nose slightly, feeling that the smell didn't at all match the meeting about to occur. Sat on the sofa, legs crossed and entirely relaxed, was Cel, watching her closely.

"Hey, Hallie," she greeted whilst smiling, her cute voice and appearance belying the fearsome abilities behind the face. "Do you want tea?" The agent indicated to the full cup.

"No, thank you," she replied at length, fingers fiddling discreetly with the hem of her shirt. It was no use getting worked up now; if she were lucky this encounter would last no more than a few minutes.

"What's wrong?" Cel queried with her eyes locked intently, unnervingly, on her official superior. "Was Jessi mean again?"

Hallie grit her teeth, determined to not be undermined by the field agent. "No more so than usual. Though there is an inordinate amount of hostility from him sometimes."

"Aww, he just doesn't understand you like I do, Hal."

"Please don't call me that." She wasn't adverse to the name, just wasn't comfortable with the person using it. Hallie stiffened further as she saw Cel's fingers playing absentmindedly with the pendant around her neck, the carved jade filling her with a trepidation which was easy to pick up on.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" the petite girl commented, "How you can store data even in stone like this without corrupting it. Don't worry." She let go of it and got to her feet, making no noise as she did so. "I'm not going to use it. That would _ruin_ you." She smiled peacefully.

"I just don't get why it needs to exist," Hallie explained, backing off slightly as if to ward the pendant away from her.

"Well don't ask me." The girl pushed in the nose of a bear near to her, laughing gently to herself as it regained its original appearance without assistance. "Boss likes fail safes. And if you were to get out of hand..." Her eyes gleamed dangerously for a second before she blinked, then they were back to their normal, cheerful façade. "Let's not think about that. I assume there's a job for me?"

Hallie hesitated, wondering how the topic had gotten so off track and then returned with little input from her. "You're to go on passive." She crossed her arms in a semblance of confidence. "I assume you were briefed by the Boss before all of this?"

"Uh-huh. _Follow_." The girl didn't elaborate, just stretched lethargically before walking to the exit. She stopped when she laid a hand on the door and glanced back at Hallie. "They could do with some slowing down, I think, which I'm sure you can take care of. Nice talking to you."

And with that she was gone, allowing Hallie to relax and collapse on the sofa in exhaustion caused by her metaphorical jangling nerves. She passed a hand over her eyes and sighed, wondering just how long this insecurity would last. But worrying was keeping her from more important tasks.

Had anybody been walking by the open door at that moment and happened to glance in, they would have stopped dead with their hearts frozen in fear upon seeing a girl with steeled blue eyes rising to her feet, a dangerous determination set in her shoulders.

It was time to delay the trains.


	9. Public Transport

"Kia."

Upon hearing her name, the girl looked up from the glass table to see Hatter exiting the office with Fluke.

"You two better go then," he said, hands sliding into his pockets to rest there. "No time to waste and all that."

"Ready?" Hatter asked, to which Kia responded by standing and nodding. The mercenary then led her back through the corridors, ignoring Fluke's farewell wave as he stayed behind - no need for him to come with them, he was a busy man.

**_Welcome back, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower," she replied to the maintenance elevator as they stood by it, slightly put out by how close Kia was standing to her.

**_I'll open the door then._ **

"It isn't going to break, you realise?" Hatter commented as they entered and the doors shut, receiving no response as Kia resumed her previous stance of one hand on the wall at all times. "Level 50." She sighed, wondering whether her charge would be alright once they separated, and worried that she might not make it back to her own home. Though, Kia had lived in these scrapers her whole life so she would probably be fine, and the uncertainty she was exhibiting likely was only due to the unusual situation she'd been placed in.

The lift stopped at its destination and as soon as the doors were open wide enough Kia bolted through them, regaining her confident footing on steady ground. Hatter followed at a more reasonable pace.

" _That_ ," Kia began, glaring at the metal contraption behind them, "is way too fast to be safe."

"It's fine, no need to worry." She rolled her eyes at Kia's unrelenting distaste. "Fine; we'll just use the public lifts from now on." Having reached this agreement, Hatter walked out from the corner they were hidden in, stepping abruptly into bright lights, crowds and loud noises that were characteristic of the entertainment floor. "Stay close," she warned, though aware that Kia couldn't travel much further than 25 metres afield, as they had learnt via trial and error whilst still near Ground Level. Besides, she found that less wandering meant less hassle whatever the situation. Hatter headed straight for the train station, determined to not let Kia be distracted for too long by any one thing, which was proving difficult as the girl frequently halted or headed in a completely different direction as an arcade or shop caught her interest. At times Hatter had to fix her hand on Kia's shoulders to set her on the right path again. Eventually, they made it.

"Which scraper are we going to?" Kia asked, trying to recall from her memories of information gleaned from news articles. "Uh… London, District 1, Y?"

"Platform 1 it is," Hatter confirmed with a nod. They headed for the gate and she paid for two tickets, allowing them access to the waiting area.

The platforms were all open aired, on the outer side of the scraper to allow for the large pseuvi tracks supporting carriages like the one currently pulling in to the station. Mechanical arms extended from the below to lock the train in place so it couldn't leave before all passengers were safely aboard. This particular train wasn't busy, they found as the doors slid open, but neither was it empty. As Kia raised her foot to embark Hatter grabbed her arm to stop her.

Something was wrong.

Eyes narrowed, the mercenary sought whatever it was that had set her intuition ringing. "Get back!" she shouted, pulling her bewildered charge as she took her own advice, having noticed what was wrong. Kia's eyes widened unfeasibly as she and all other bystanders saw the issue.

The tracks were flickering, only marginally at first but the magnitude of the fluctuation increasing rapidly. The structure of the data began to crumble in on itself, the sections falling away being snatched back in only to disappear entirely as though a parasite were eating the tracks from the inside. There was a terrible screeching noise as the full weight of the train was laid on the mechanical arms that hadn't been designed to do more than keep the carriage from moving, and the inevitable screaming and shouting from civilians began.

"Stay there!" Hatter instructed her charge before she ran to the edge of the platform. Already passengers had started to clamber out of the transportation and she aided them into safety as the gap widened between the carriage and the platform. Hatter grabbed the last boy just in time, getting his two feet to ground roughly as the holding arms finally gave way. With a tremendous clamour the train disappeared from view, a victim of gravity. Hatter made her way back to Kia, who was desperately holding her own against the panicked throng pushing past her in order to not be dragged too far from her companion. "Let's go!" the mercenary called over the shouting of passengers, not stopping as she passed Kia, who nodded in relief and turned quickly to follow, both of them aware that the stability of the platform itself may have been compromised too.

The mass of people multiplied when they re-entered the station proper, passengers recalled from every platform for safety's sake. A voice echoed overhead, apologising for the inconvenience and technical difficulties. While the crowd was rowdy still, most seemed to have begun to relax in the belief that the danger was over; however, Hatter wasn't entirely convinced. There was something she was missing - but what? She shut her eyes and breathed in deeply, focussing her concentration. She needed to see everything, anything that was out of place, no matter how insignificant it might seem. Eyes reopening she set about erasing people and items from conscious view as she deemed them unimportant, and within seconds all that remained were the tracks, a broken monitor, Kia, various panels that needed replacing, a lone shoe, and a girl.

A girl? Why? The mercenary's vision removed everything but the girl exiting the platform later than any other person, walking quickly but without any sense of panic. Hatter quickly noted down key features: blonde hair, blue eyes, maybe 13 years of age, 5 foot 7, green jumper.

"Kia, this way," she said to her companion who obediently complied. They began to approach the girl but their movement against the crowd caught her attention and she glanced up, eyes fixated on the pair for a few moments before she began to run. "Hurry!" Hatter yelled, unused to having another person to instruct in such a situation. Kia was keeping up though, matching her pace as much as was possible in full awareness of how important the next few moments could be. The team was catching up rapidly as the crowd moved aside for them but not for the mystery girl, civilians seeing the mercenary badge upon a coat and the hat upon a head and recognising the myth that was the bodyguard.

The blonde girl fled through the main station entrance an instant before they did, speeding up now that there were fewer people in the way. Hatter lunged forward, leaving Kia behind for a second in order to grab the unidentified girl's shoulder. The sudden contact made them both jump slightly and Hatter's hand slipped, freeing the captive who then kept running into the darker area of the Level. Kia sped past a shocked Hatter, shooting her a look that reminded her that she needed to run again.

They continued to chase the girl, never catching more than a glimpse as she turned corners until entering a long maintenance corridor. The blonde turned her head as she ran to discover that they weren't far behind and still catching up, dead set upon reaching her. She stopped and turned, knees bent and arms ready for impact.

Kia and Hatter both frowned as the girl did this but didn't have time before Kia reached her to react. As if without any effort, Kia was sent sailing backward through the air, crashing straight into Hatter and knocking her down. The girl wasted no time admiring her handiwork and set off again, turning a corner as soon as was possible.

"Come on!" Kia shouted as they regained their feet, following. They too turned into the side passage – only to find nothing but an endless corridor, no sign of the girl.

"Impossible…" Hatter breathed. There hadn't been enough time for the girl to run the entire hallway, and yet she was gone. The mercenary and civilian stood in disbelief, the only sound breaking the silence being a temperature control panel in the wall as it clattered mechanically in a way it probably shouldn’t.

"I'm sorry," Kia said after a while. "You would've caught her if I hadn't been thrown. I just..."

"Wasn't expecting it, I know," Hatter completed. "Neither was I." She bit her lip in frustration, her gut telling her that the person they just missed out on could have shed much light on her current mission. Yet, against the odds, she had disappeared from right in front of them.


	10. Illumination

Fluke sat bored in the back of one of the broadcast rooms, there to examine the new interns on a test run. If only there were some interesting stories today, then he might be more invested in the whole exercise.

No sooner had he thought that than one of the assistants approached him. "Sir, there is a serious issue at the station in this building. Should we switch the broadcast to urgent story?" It took no thinking about. Problems like this were what the news was all about and people would complain if they _didn't_ acknowledge it; plus, it would be a great opportunity to see the interns squirm as their test took an unexpected turn.

"Have we got a reporter out there already?" he asked in a quiet voice so as to not disturb the current broadcast unnecessarily.

"No sir, we'll send someone immediately but for now we have access to the security feed in the area."

"Good enough. Switch it." At his command the assistant nodded and ran off to alert everyone to the situation. There was a momentary pause from the young newscaster as the words in their auto prompt changed to suit the story and the screen beside them began to show live feed directly from the station, cameras hijacked by the BBC. The image zoomed in on one of the platforms where the tracks had failed and people were rushing back into the station. Fluke, now on his feet, tuned out the intern's voice in favour of studying the scene closely; he cursed as he spotted a very distinguishable person running through the crowd after a less notable girl. He called an assistant over to him.

"Tell the editing team to take Hatter out of the broadcast before it gets online. Quickly!" he added as the assistant hesitated. Trust him to get the one that didn't know Hatter was real.

 

* * *

 

"Well?" Fluke asked, standing before his mercenary subordinate who had been released from several hours of unavoidable police questioning about the incident; night had fallen already. "Did you get her?" Her gaze shifted to the floor. "You didn't."

"It wasn't that Hatter didn't try!" Kia piped up, trying to defend her. "The girl just disappeared!"

"That doesn't change the fact that she got away," Hatter pointed out, causing Kia to fall silent once more. The mercenary turned back to Fluke. "There was something peculiar though; I managed to grab her at one point but then my hand went numb. I'm still not able to feel properly yet." She flexed her fingers unconsciously at the thought.

Fluke considered this, a frown forming on his face. "Maybe she had barrier tech?"

"It didn't seem like it," she replied, shaking her head. "At the very least, we have footage of her so we can run her face through identificati–"

"We can't," Fluke interrupted, no longer frowning but simply looking tired. "The footage was erased."

Hatter scowled. "Stupid interns."

"I agree, but I mean that it was _erased_."

The implication was clear to her, though Kia hadn't quite picked up on it. An outside force had removed any tangible evidence of the girl, making definite what Hatter had only suspected before. She was part of the group they were searching for and had others working with her to keep their presence minimal. "You really ought to improve the company security," Hatter suggested with a look that said 'I told you so'.

"Fine," Fluke conceded, though he had already decided to do so earlier. The system for the BBC paled in comparison to what he had for personal use anyway, so it was about time. He walked to his desk and flicked a small switch. The trio waited as they heard the momentary dialling tone of an AI connecting.

**_How may I help?_ **

"Send a message to Hollow. He needs to fix the security here," Fluke replied casually.

**_Of course. Shall I phrase it better than that?_ **

"If you want."

**_Of course I'm going to! Hollow won't do anything for you if you ask him that way. Is that all?_ **

"Yeah."

 ** _I'll go then._** The switch moved itself back into the off position after it stopped talking.

"Your AI is weird," Kia muttered, not intending to be heard but being heard nonetheless.

"What? Juke?" Hatter asked in confusion. "He's not that strange, is he?"

"I think she means his free will, Hatter," Fluke explained, judging what Kia was thinking from her face. "She's only ever used public AI before. Kia," he turned to the girl in order to explain, "Hollow programed Juke years ago as a security system, though he's evolved into more by himself. We call similar programs Cogitative Intelligences, since they develop independent thought unlike any other General Intelligence. Evanz made one too, which you're probably familiar with; the commercial support system for Tower that was released a little under two years ago... I can never remember its name. Anyway, you understand why it's important not to reveal the existence of CI to the masses right? Yeah, you do." He didn't give her time to say anything, moving on immediately to the next topic – his hasty exposition ought to be enough to keep the civilian quiet for a while. "So, Hatter, it doesn't seem like the trains will be opened for a few days. Do you want to stay here?"

"Yes," was the reply. "We'll need adjacent rooms though, because of this." She raised her right arm briefly before dropping it again, in order to remind him of the handcuffs.

"What are you telling _me_ that for?" Fluke scoffed. "You know how we set up things already."

"Yes," the mercenary replied slowly, as though she though he was being stupid. "We need Juke, so would you call him please?"

A grin spread across Fluke’s face as he realised his miscommunication. "I forgot I hadn't told you yet. Juke is installed on your new comms."

Hatter scowled. "These are the kind of things you need to tell me when you give me them!" He laughed it off.

"Alright, alright. Now run along; I have work to do."

Kia trailed after Hatter out the door, hearing the irritated mumbling of the mercenary that meant she'd given up trying to argue with the blond. Eventually she remembered what they were supposed to be doing and tapped her earrings, activating the CI and announcing the room requirements clearly. Juke led them to the next Level up (using the normal lifts, much to Kia's delight) and past a set of small apartments. A fair few of the BBC staff stayed there, it seemed, rent taken out of their paycheques. Juke opened a larger door for them though, separating the pair from the marginally more public area and sealing them into Fluke's mansion, wherein there were several guest rooms side by side.

Hatter opened the door to one and walked in, Kia following behind out of habit and curiosity. She walked around the room, leaning in close to things before moving to the next object with a quizzical look.

"Are you... smelling everything?" Hatter asked dubiously, eyes screaming 'you are a crazy person'.

Yes," Kia replied absently, not noticing the surprise on the mercenary's face as her joke turned out to have been right. "But it's weird, because nothing really smells of anything at all."

"Is that a problem or...?"

"Nah, not really; it probably just means everything is super clean. Or are they never used?"

"No, we do use them from time to time, when we're in the area. It's convenient."

"It's useful for a bodyguard, then, huh?"

"Look, I'm not a bodyguard. I'm a mod."

"Mod?"

"Moderator. We take care of problems that shouldn't be publicly known, like bounty hunters and terrorists. Or we might remove public figures if it can't be done in a more socially acceptable way."

"Should you be telling me this?"

"...no."

There was a momentary silence as Hatter's face became sheepish, then Kia's shoulders began to shake as she held back laughter. "Guess you're slipping up because you're tired? Shall I go?" She was still doing her best not to mock Hatter but her tone of voice clearly indicated amusement, much to the mercenary's chagrin.

"Get out of here," she ordered, turning Kia around 180 degrees and pushing her out the room before the girl saw Hatter's flushed face. As the door slid shut the sound of laughter began, then was cut off as the entry closed entirely. Hatter put a hand to her head and sighed, shrugging off her coat and bandoliers and dropping them onto a chair, too exhausted to neaten them. She powered down the lights, room now visible only by the barest traces of luminance from the neighbouring scraper and the gentle glow of the constraint that belied its true fettering ability.

Hatter flopped onto the bed and raised her right arm up to study the cuff and chain. With the trains out of commission she estimated that she'd have to take care of Kia for another few days at the least before the tracks were fixed and safe for use. She sighed again and her eyes shut, cutting out all light as her arm dropped to the bed.


	11. Erudition

Hatter yawned, then shivered as she became aware of how cold she was. Sleeping on top of the covers was a habit she had not observed over the past week or so, given that she had plenty of time to waste at her apartment, but its recurrence now was only to be expected. The mercenary pushed herself into a sitting position before sliding off the bed and onto her feet. Set into the closest wall was a device familiar to many in the city, Hatter not being an exception. With one hand she switched it on, simultaneously wiping the sleep from her eyes with the other.

"Come _on_ ," she groaned as she was forced to wait through the Tower loading symbol. "I just want some tea already!" Her finger jabbed at the selection screen until it recognised her order and the machinery hidden in the wall began to react.

There was a knock and the door opened a fraction to reveal an amused Kia's face as she peered in. "Don't murder the kettle; you won't be able to get your tea fix."

Hatter scowled. "You've no leg to stand on – I've seen you try to tear it out of the wall at the apartment. You're _far_ worse than me. I bet you already have a cup of tea in your hand."

"Then you'd be wrong." The girl nudged the door fully open with her foot and entered the room. "I've two!" She took a sip from one of the unmarked mugs in her right hand, smirking as Hatter rolled her eyes.

"You are ridiculous," she muttered, her attention then diverted back to her own caffeine supply as a section of the wall slid up to reveal a simple white mug like Kia's. The mercenary's hand shot out to grab the drink, bringing it swiftly to a comfortable rest in front of her without spilling a drop.

Muted giggling dragged Hatter out of her satisfied stupor. Kia's face was contorted in an attempt to hide her laughter but not much good was coming from her efforts. "What?"

"The... the mug..." She gave up trying to explain and just pointed. Warily Hatter turned her wrist to see the side of the container that wasn't visible from her viewpoint, only to be met by the wink and smile of a goofy cut-out of Fluke's head printed on the ceramic.

“What the..? That crazy son of a…" she grumbled and tailed off, wanting to storm to the culprit and complain but knowing she wasn't _quite_ bothered enough by it to do so. Instead, she preferred the idea of just drinking the tea.

Recovered from her laughing fit, Kia changed the topic. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Given that we're stuck in this scraper, probably something menial." A plan came to mind as she glanced at her companion. "Maybe get you some new clothes."

Kia looked down at herself. Trousers, shirt, jumper; all tattered and imbued with filth from Ground Level but their state forgotten in the rush to get home. Only the heavy-heeled boots were still in a fit state to wear in public. "That might be a good idea," she agreed. It was one thing to go straight home dressed that way, but another to spend several days in the BBC headquarters in dirtied attire. Now she understood why the employees had been glaring at her.

"I know the perfect place," Hatter said, setting down the now empty mug, 'creative' side facing the wall. "Just give me a minute."

"Sure!" Kia backed out of the room and waited in the hallway as Hatter brushed her hair and teeth quickly, straightened as many creases from her shirt as possible, and swung on her coat and bandoliers. It may have only been a minor shopping trip, but it would just make her uncomfortable to go without any of the tools in the leather carriers. She strode to the door, setting her hat atop her head in one smooth, practised motion as she did so. Reuniting in the hallway, the pair then made their way to the lifts, taking the floors ten Levels at a time until they reached Level 50.

Upon stepping out, Hatter felt a slight bitterness knowing that this was the same floor she had let a suspect escape. This feeling was quickly cast aside though, in favour of a determined resolution to not let the girl get away next time.

"Where are we going?" Kia queried, glancing up at the mercenary.

"There." She pointed to a smallish clothing store next to the arcade, situated perfectly for people to see as they exited the lifts. Above the entrance was a simplistic monochrome creature next to the lit word 'Panda', which Kia assumed was the shop name.

"Hatter," she asked as they made their way toward the retailers, "what does ‘panda’ mean?" It wasn’t often she encountered an English word she didn’t know, so she automatically assumed it was something foreign.

"I think it’s one of those things," the mercenary replied, vaguely gesturing at the animal depiction.

"Oh." Kia paused and tilted her head as she studied it. "That's... cute." Noticing that she'd been left behind, Kia broke into a brief jog to catch up to her companion right as they entered the store. The clamour of the street cut out, replaced by a gentle background music. The bright, playful clothes on show around them made Kia curious as to why Hatter chose this particular shop; it didn't seem like the kind of place the disillusioned mercenary would frequent.

"Can I help?"

The offer sounded from the back of the store where an assistant was exiting the back room. She straightened her glasses as she approached, dark hair tied back and name plate on full show.

"I'm here for this kid today, Katie," Hatter greeted, faint smile gracing her lips. Immediately Kia's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion of the assistant, given that she could elicit a happy expression from the usually cordial mercenary.

Part of Kia's response might have also been because she'd been called 'short' subversively.

"I'm guessing you'll be boring with your choices again?" Katie asked, her tone indicating that she hoped otherwise but was resigned to the fact.

"Miss Practicality, that's me," Hatter replied jokingly. She then turned to Kia. "Choose whatever; just make sure you can move easily in it."

"I don't have any money for this though," Kia said, the worried expression on her face clearly showing that she didn't want to impose too much on Hatter.

"It's no problem. I mean, it's not like there's much else I have to spend my pay on."

Kia nodded, allowing Katie to lead her away. Hatter waited as her companion hurriedly selected a pair of white trousers and a pale grey t-shirt, then went to change into them. Upon a glance from the mercenary, Katie pulled a blue cardigan from one of the racks on her way to the counter. She peered up through her glasses whilst ringing up the items.

"That's an interesting set of bracelets you two have," she commented, neither as a compliment nor a criticism. She pushed a payment device across the counter and Hatter obediently pressed her thumb to the Tower logo, remaining silent as it read her print and accessed her bank. "I know a company by the name of Open that'd pay a good price for the rights to produce that accessory."

The mercenary's free hand tightened to a fist at the name but her face retained its light smile. "Oh? You wouldn't happen to have any contact details for me?" The device beeped to indicate the transaction's success and Katie took it back from her customer.

"Unfortunately, no; but I'm sure if you ask around about the CEO, someone will have more information. The company really made a turn ever since they took over four years ago."

"The CEO sounds like a competent person."

"Sure is. Really stepped up Open's game, but didn't boast about it. Stays hidden and all that."

"Surely you must know something?"

"Only that they usually go by the alias 'R'. Maybe your search might bear more fruit if you use this." Katie slid a small folded piece of paper across the table, which Hatter pocketed without a glance.

Upon hearing Kia approaching, Katie shot Hatter a knowing wink before leaning on the counter and focussing on the girl. "All done?"

"Yup." Kia looked between the two curiously. "What were you talking about?"

Hatter inwardly wondered if she was simply asking as a social convention or if she were actually quite sharp. "Just about some other shops. Here." The mercenary pulled the cardigan from the counter and handed it to her charge. "You forgot to consider the possibility of cold locations, so I took the liberty of remembering for you."

"Thanks," Kia replied sheepishly. "Thanks," she repeated, this time to the shop assistant.

"No problem," Katie grinned. "Come by again soon!" She waved as the duo left the store and Hatter rolled her eyes at the cheer of it, her unchained hand in her pocket and fingering the paper hidden there as she walked.


	12. Tea and Tall Tales

Hatter and Kia headed for the dated tech-café across the street, an establishment frequented by the elderly and other such persons that didn't have up-to-date systems of their own for some reason. Tech-cafés were a dying species, so to speak, ever since the exceedingly popular and efficient Tower had come online two years prior, and this particular café was no exception. A small bell rang as the pair entered and were faced with a sea of empty chairs at empty tables. Despite the lack of other patrons, Hatter chose to sit in the corner where they would attract the least eye fall.

"So," Kia began hesitantly as she sat across from her companion, "what's up?" In their brief journey Hatter had seemed absent, staring into nothing as if preoccupied with an entirely different person than the diminutive civilian.

"What?" the startled mercenary replied instinctively.

"Is it to do with that?" Kia reached across the table for the piece of paper hidden under Hatter's hand, grabbing it before she could react. When unfolded, she could see that the paper bore a simple sketch; it consisted of two barely separate circles, one within the other, bisected by a slightly off-vertical line that cut the inner ring in half. "What is it? I think I've seen this before."

Hatter sighed, resigned to the fact that she would be pestered for information. She hadn't really been thinking when she took Katie's clue from her pocket, she'd just been running on autopilot. "It's a logo belonging to an organisation of bounty hunters called 'Open'."

"Are you going to get rid of them?"

"I hope so." Hatter frowned. "There's only one problem. I already destroyed Open four years ago."

"Wha..." Kia couldn't comprehend that the famous bodyguard had had a target revive itself after its ruination.

"Of course, they were called 'Open Empire' back then, but it's the same group, same logo; albeit, there used to be a crown above the centre line."

Kia leant forward, elbows coming to rest on the table top. "Did any of them escape?"

"Small fry, nothing of consequence. Well, I guess they're of consequence _now_."

"So the leader didn't reform the group..." Kia sat back with a put-out expression, her initial theory thwarted.

"Of course not; a dangerous criminal with 'Disasterwound' as his codename? No, Hines is detained under Juke's supervision so there's no way he could have escaped. Besides," her eyes flickered back to the clothing store briefly, "my information says that someone else is in charge now."

Kia stared down at the symbol she was holding, musing. "Oh," she said after a few moments. "I remember where I saw this now. The girl – terrorist, I guess – that we didn't catch was wearing a pin of this on her shirt."

"She was?" Hatter couldn't keep her dubious feelings about this fact from leaking into her tone. "I didn't see it."

Kia looked down diffidently and scratched the back of her neck. "I do this thing, sometimes, where I notice small details that other people can't. No one person can see everything, right? Not even you…"

"I suppose." The mercenary rarely missed important intricacies but that didn't mean she _never_ overlooked them; it was possible Kia was right. If she was, and that terrorist was part of the new Open, then Hatter would have to shut them down as soon as possible. The boss – 'R' – had to be a _serious_ threat if they were leading someone who could single-handedly disable the municipal transport system so easily. Hatter plucked the paper from Kia's hand and returned it to her pocket. "Do you want tea?" she queried, standing up. The answer was obvious, given Kia's track record with the beverage.

"Uh, yeah, please," she replied after a pause, thrown by the sudden topic change. Hatter nodded then headed to the self-service drinks point, pseuvi chain extending out behind her. Very few tech-cafés were regularly staffed these days so making your own drinks was to be expected. After inputting the order and her account details manually (why did the biometrics never work on these ancient machines?), she waited for tea to be brewed.

Hatter tapped her twitter communicators and selected a name from the list that appeared above the hologram chip implanted in her right palm, quickly typing a message.

- _Peace, tell everyone to gather information on the group 'Open'. Their logo is in the database._

Moments later there was a blip of sound as a reply came in.

- _Whyyy? I'm not your relay point. Plus, I'm new at this whole twitter thing :P_

Hatter smirked.

_-Call it practice then, Cally. This is urgent._

There was a longer wait as Peace deliberated, and Hatter took this conveniently timed opportunity to remove the first tea from the machine so the second could be made.

_-Fine, but stop calling me that! And say hi to Fluke for me ;)_

_-Will do._

She deactivated her comms, waited a little longer for tea, then headed back to the table – only to find Kia engrossed in something on the computer screen that had been pulled up from the desk (a feature that had given tech-cafés their name decades ago).

"What are you doing?" Hatter asked, placing Kia's cup next to her and peering at the screen. Displayed there was a multitude of images ranging from cartoon designs to extremely old, low quality photographs, but all recognisably depicting the same creature.

"I was looking up 'panda'. Did you know, they _actually_ existed?" Kia's eyes were sparkling in excitement. "Pandas were _real things_."

"I never knew that," the mercenary admitted, sitting down and sipping her tea.

"And they lived in forests! I thought forests were only in fantasy books but apparently they were real too!"

"You're kidding," Hatter chuckled. "Next you'll be telling me the people used to live in _castles_. Now that's something I'd like to see!"

"Well maybe they did!" Kia exclaimed, her enthusiasm not dulled by the mercenary's incredulity. "Oh! Do you know what I heard once? Supposedly, the sky is actually _blue_. And you used to be able to see the sun!"

Silence fell as Hatter stared at the girl, frozen. Then she snorted and burst into a full-blown laughing fit, forcing her to put down her tea before she could spill it all.

"Okay, now you're just having me on," she said with some effort, wiping tears from her eyes. " _'The sky is blue'_. That's hilarious."

"Hey!" Kia pouted. "I think a blue sky would be great. What's wrong with that?"

"It's absolute nonsense, that's what. Pandas and forests I can just about believe, but a _blue sky_? Never!" Hatter kept laughing and Kia kept scowling. Then she smiled deviously as she had a thought.

"Well then, let's make a bet. Say you're right – the sky isn't blue – then I swear I won't ever doubt you and will always do what you tell me to, even if it's to never talk to you again. Sound good?"

"Go on," Hatter prompted, still distracted by the mere concept of a coloured sky.

"Okay. Well, if _I'm_ right – which I am – and the sky really _is_ blue, then you have to do what _I_ say. Fair trade right? Deal?"

"Yeah, sure. Deal." Making such a wager wouldn't do any harm, given the utter impossibility of Kia winning. She almost pitied the naïve girl for dooming herself to loss. Plus, Hatter pointed out to herself after a second, Kia would soon be gone and none of it would matter anyway.

"You'll probably regret that," the girl snickered. "The day will come when I prove that the sky is blue and when it does you'll be the first one to know!"

"That made very little sense," Hatter said, finally trusting herself to pick up her cup of tea again.

"Shut up. It sounded better in my head…" was the barely audible retort.

"Why are you so insistent on this anyway?" the mercenary asked as Kia attempted to drink her tea and made faces as she realised it was too hot for her to drink yet, a problem which Hatter didn't have.

"Huh? Oh, I just want to see it. Imagine: a blue sky, no dirty clouds, maybe even the sun shining down. Yeah. I want to see the sun." As Hatter watched her Kia's gaze drifted and her mouth morphed into an unguarded smile, seemingly recalling some fond memory. The mercenary still couldn't understand why anyone would be interested in seeing a ball of gases that was nearly 150 gigametres away from them but she still gave an encouraging response.

"Well, if I am wrong I'll make sure you get to see the sun one day."

Kia smiled at her appreciatively despite knowing that the promise was just politeness. "Thanks." She turned back to her computer, mood shifting back to excited. "I'm going to see what else is real!"

Hatter was about to respond when her earrings beeped to notify her of something. She quickly looked down at her hand and found it somewhat ironic to see a message from Sky, one of the mods in America. She read the message then stared, unblinking, at the concerned question, hand raised to type but not moving any further.

- _Hatter, Peace told us to investigate Open. Are they back? More importantly, will you be alright?_

She didn't answer.


	13. Binary

Jessi opened his eyes, blinking in confusion as a jumbled mess of mathematical symbols flooded his vision. After a few seconds he recognised what it was - the giant computer screen in his room. He'd fallen asleep in the middle of work, too comfortable in his chair for his own good. The hacker reached to his head, then his neck, searching for the goggles he always wore.

"Crap," he exclaimed, leaping out of his seat when he finally caught sight of them on the lying on the floor. They must have fallen off during his nap. He picked the goggles up delicately, thoroughly examining them for any damages, of which there were thankfully none. Jessi sighed in relief and held them close to his chest as he stood up. To anyone else they may just look like an orange-tinted glass visor, but the truth was the goggles were a very rare and expensive piece of equipment. So rare and expensive, in fact, that he'd only been able to attain his pair by getting Cel to steal the schematics and prototype of the product. If they got broken then he'd have to build another set from scratch using the blueprints, a feat which was nigh impossible without access to the right materials - access that he couldn't get, thanks to Hollow's secure defences.

Jessi sat down again and manipulated the eyewear into its proper place. It switched on by itself, using the electrical signals in his body as power. People joked about the goggles being a part of him but they had no idea how close to the truth they really were - the way it interacted with his brain signals essentially made it an extension of himself. Still, all he normally used them for was real-time decoding of his computers. It meant no one could see what he was doing no matter how hard they studied the display, though this had backfired once when Hallie accidently killed the virtual kittens he was raising; a 'trivial' incident that would have ended in the destruction of their organisation were it not for the Boss and Cel stepping in. He would never forgive Hallie for what she'd done. _Never_.

Not that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things given that she hadn't harmed any of his real cats, two of which (Wire and Alpha) had just now made themselves comfortable on his lap. Jessi gave the adorable white furballs a quick pet before reverting his attention to the screen, where he could see several notifications to deal with. Only one interested him though, the one labelled 'R'. A message from the Boss.

_-Seeing as I'm short of time (and you're probably sleeping in the middle of the day again) I'll keep this brief. Lay low for now. The moderators are catching up._

"Is that it?" the hacker queried, yet with no real complaint behind the words. He would reply but from the sound of this message and the previous call it seemed like the Boss was under surveillance, so doing as told was advisable.

"I'll assume that doesn't apply to Cel then," he mumbled to himself, aware that he probably wouldn't be able to contact her anyway. The frequency with which she forgot to bring communication devices when she went out was astounding given her skill in... other areas. "Well then, Card," he said, addressing another white kitten that he plucked off the back of his chair before it could make the leap to his head, the creature having spent the past few minutes scaling the furnishing wholeheartedly. "What shall we do today? Film? Games? Food, definitely."

Before he could finish making somewhat arbitrary plans his computer played a continuous bleep, indicating that he was being called. With a sigh he let go of Card and answered, Hallie's face appearing on the screen, backgrounded by static.

"Hacker, let me in," she ordered.

"Fine," he complied. There was no point arguing with her right now. A short wait later and the commander was in his room, striding over to him from the doorway. "You know, I was wondering where you went," he said rather than using a proper greeting. "Just committed an act of terrorism and vanished off the face of the Earth, leaving me to clean up your mess again." He briefly considered swivelling in his chair to face her but decided it wasn't worth the meagre effort.

"That's your _job_ ," Hallie retorted, frowning. "Besides, I have my reasons. I was waylaid by the Hatter."

"I _know_ – _I'm_ the one who deleted the camera footage," Jessi reminded her, recalling the easy foray into the BBC archives. For a worldwide company they really needed to upgrade their security, which he had no doubt they would be doing after such a public stunt of terrorism. His current work-around would soon be rendered useless, but a part of him still held the hope that it would continue to function.

"I also met the Boss," Hallie added.

"And just how did that go? I bet you didn't get any information at all." From her silence he could tell he was correct. "Knew it."

"I know Boss needs more time. We've not got what we need yet."

"Obviously. Oh, and in case you didn't get the message, we have to lay low for a while." He smirked a little. "I mean, _I_ can go out, but I'm pretty sure _you're_ grounded, Hals."

She took the final steps toward him, grabbed the arm of his chair and swung it around so that they were face to face. Jessi quickly pulled his goggles down, knowing it would be too difficult to look at her with them on. "Don't call me that," she glared, less adverse to the nickname as she was to the derision behind it. "What on Earth is wrong with you? Why do you hate me so much?"

"You hurt things," he replied simply. Hallie released the chair and moved a step back.

"'I hurt things'?" she repeated. "Man, you really missed the memo about what Open does, didn't you?"

"I think I know what we do better than you," he returned.

"What, because you've been here longer? Because you're still loyal to the previous leader?"

"No." He lifted his gaze to make rare eye contact and Hallie flinched, unused to people doing so. "I respect him of course, but I have no loyalty to the old organisation in any other way than to our leader who came from it. Besides, even you should know better than to think I'm here only because of loyalty."

They were both silent; Jessi because he wanted to drop the conversation, and Hallie because she couldn't think of anything else to say. She found that she didn't have to, thanks to the intervention of Jessi's pets. Namely, Card, who was being true to his habit of climbing anything he could reach, this time's target being Hallie herself. He scrambled at her leg, trying to gain some purchase on the material of her jeans and winding up immensely confused as he failed. The corners of her mouth turned down as she bent to pick him up. The hacker watched with no comment, the concern for his kitten's welfare counteracted by experience that told him Hallie was incapable of harming the small creature.

"I thought you were trying to stop him climbing," she said, holding Card out at arm's length.

"I tried. For about ten minutes. It's too much effort."

Hallie appeared to smile momentarily but the expression was gone too quickly for him to decipher. "I should've guessed that'd be the reason." The cat wriggled in her hands so she quite happily let him go and he immediately joined his kin on Jessi's lap. The girl remained still for another minute or so before saying, "I think I'm going to have a nap or something," the mental exhaustion she'd been holding back now beginning to show.

"Yeah, recharge your batteries and all that," Jessi snickered.

" _Funny_ ," she replied, sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"As much as I'd like for you to leave immediately, you can't go just yet," the hacker said, surprising her; it was extremely rare that he would make an effort to keep her nearby. "I got a message for you during the time you were away."

"From whom?"

"Dunno. There was no sender." His eyes narrowed. "Now you can imagine my surprise when I couldn't trace it in the slightest."

"Yeah, I can," Hallie replied, her grim set face a result of her knowing exactly who had sent the message. "What did they want?"

"In short, _'get her to message me back'_. Whose calls are you ignoring?"

"None of your concern. Tell them to leave me alone."

"How, exactly?" Jessi queried, raising an eyebrow. "If I can't trace the sender, how would I send them a message?"

"Just send it as a reply to the one you were given. He'll get it." Hallie's arms crossed as she settled into her defensive mode, foot tapping. With no warning she turned on her heel and exited the room, the urgency of the action making it unclear to Jessi whether she was actually going to rest or not. He shrugged.

"Whatever you say, commander." He pulled up his goggles again and the moment they powered up he noticed life signs in the corner of his eye. Recognising the biometrics displayed in that direction he signalled for his remaining two kittens to join the others. Beta reached him and covered the rest of his lap with another bundle of white fur. Jessi carefully leant sideways to help the last kitten, who was struggling to climb due to his small size. He held it up in front of him, looking into the chartreuse eyes and smiling.

"Hello there, Death. Did you have a nice nap?"


	14. Clues

"There's nothing," Kia stated as they exited yet another shop that hosted one of Hatter's informants. "Nobody knows anything!"

"We've only been at this a few days," Hatter replied, trying to get Kia to calm down whilst still being concerned about the lack of information herself. By now she would usually have at least a location related to her target but, as Kia had put it, there was nothing. Whatever the informants _did_ know was outdated, from years back. None of that could help now, as Hatter was certain the methodology of Open had completely changed, meaning different tactics, habits and goals. In days past Open Empire had sought publicity in order to equate to influence; the organisation now was a complete stranger to the mercenary.

"You'd think that someone would have been in contact with these bounty hunters at some point, or at least have seen them," Kia pouted. "It's like they don't slip up at all!"

"It would seem that way." Hatter thought about what the girl had just said. The possibility had crossed her mind before, but now Hatter was certain that Open was the same group she'd already been investigating. The lack of evidence to their existence was too similar for them to be fully separate groups and since the interests of one group rarely overlapped with those of another it wasn't like a small unit was being protected by a large one. This left the only option of there being a singular entity evading Hatter's networks.

Not that this realisation helped, seeing as she hadn't any information on them anyway. It just meant she wasn't being side-tracked.

Hatter considered the situation. It seemed like their search was doomed to be fruitless, but Katie had gotten information, which meant someone out there did know about Open. And Hatter could probably get more from them than the kindly shop assistant could, given the mercenary's alternate persuasion methods.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong places," Kia mused, giving the matter as much thought as possible. "I don't know about you, but I've been assuming they're like the standard bounty hunters you've told me about, dealing in singular items and people, taking one-off requests and such." She glanced up at Hatter who, though she wasn't going to admit it, had assumed the same.

"Your point being?"

"Maybe they're working through third parties and taking basic, ordinary, regular orders. Those wouldn't seem too out of place, would they?"

"Are you suggesting that an organisation of dangerous criminal bounty hunters that is sophisticated enough to evade a moderator's detection is… dealing drugs?"

"Yup," Kia affirmed. "And who knows better about the movement of interdictory substances than…"

" _Schoolchildren_ ," Hatter completed, the word rolling from her tongue coated in disgust.

"You don't like school, I take it?"

"Do you really think I would train to become a mercenary at age 13 if I liked school?" Hatter returned, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, I didn't learn anything there that I wanted to."

"Oh? Too good for studying, are you?" Kia queried jokingly. "What's your Intelligence Rating then?"

"7.5"

"Really?!" The girl's mouth fell open but she quickly shut it again. "Sorry, I didn't mean that as an insult. I'm only a healthy, average 5 you see."

The mercenary stared at her quizzically. "The average IR is 4."

Kia waved the point away. "5 is halfway up the scale; it _should_ be the average."

"Good luck with that," Hatter laughed. She took a mental note of Kia's IR, replacing her previous presumption of the girl being a 4 at most. She was slightly more intelligent than she first appeared. "Have I – rather, has this – been stopping you from going to school as normal then?" She raised her arm slightly to indicate the almost forgotten shackle.

"Oh don't worry. I left a while ago," Kia grinned. "I never really fit in there."

Hatter nodded, understanding the feeling. "Well I guess it's tough luck for both of us, because it looks like we're going back to school now."

Just as the pair were about to start making their way to the nearest education centre in pursuit of knowledge about Open, they were interrupted.

**_Hatter._ **

Both girls jumped in surprise as the CI's voice came out of nowhere. It seemed like the mercenary's comms had turned on by themselves.

"Juke? What's the matter? Is someone in trouble?" Hatter was concerned to say the least. Juke never spoke without being addressed first due to his programming, so who had activated him?

**_No one is in trouble. I'm here to say that there is a girl walking down this street who has some information you could use. She is passing the repair store now._ **

The duo turned to see a brunette with glasses exactly where Juke had said. "How do you know that?" Hatter asked.

**_Figit told me._ **

"Who's that?"

**_Figit is Figit._ **

Hatter frowned. "I get that, but who is 'Figit'?"

**_Figit is Figit._ **

A worried glance from Kia. "So, um, would you tell us more about Figit then?"

**_Figit is Figit._ **

"I didn't break him, before you blame me," Kia said to Hatter, holding up both her hands in a show of innocence. "He was already broken."

"Why on Earth would I think you broke him? And he isn't broken… technically… he should just go offline if he breaks, until Hollow fixes him…" Her initial theory was that Juke had been hacked, but that was impossible; Hollow's defences were so secure that not even the world's leading experts could break them. No, whomever 'Figit' was, they were clearly trusted enough to be on the system roster. It would be useless to ask about them now, and gathering information on Open took priority. "Juke," Hatter began eventually, "who is that girl?"

**_Samantha Price. A student from London, District 3, Building W. No other notes._ **

"Thanks." She motioned to her charge that they should catch up and the pair began to walk toward Samantha, who had paused at the window of an electronics shop, hesitantly peering in and fiddling with something in her hands. Kia hung back slightly as Hatter approached the girl and tapped her shoulder, causing her to start and turn to face them.

"Can I help you?" she asked, head tilted left in both curiosity and confusion as to what they wanted with her.

"You're Samantha, right?" Hatter asked, and the girl nodded slowly. "We wanted to ask you a few questions. Have you heard of a group called Open?"

"It doesn't ring a bell," she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you guys with the police?"

"No," Hatter replied, then held out a square of paper. "Have you ever seen this symbol anywhere?"

Samantha took the paper and studied the logo briefly before handing it back again and shrugging. "Sure. There's a bunch of people at home with this on pins and stuff. Are you special ops? Or detectives?"

"Neither," Kia said, surprising Hatter who glanced at her, receiving a subtle wink in return. "We're from the company Open, conducting a study on the public's image of us. You're part of a randomised list of civilians we have to ask." She smiled sweetly. "Could you do us a favour and just tell us as much as you know about Open? It saves us from having to ask you a tedious set of questions."

"Oh, okay." The student laughed. "Your partner's outfit makes her seem like she's a hitman or something, so I kind of thought I was in trouble. Her being a mercenary added to that." She pointed out the badge on Hatter's coat.

"Yeah, I see what you mean! My usual partner is off sick so I just hired this mercenary for the day," she chuckled. "So, would you tell us?"

"I'm afraid I don't really know much about your company. All I know of them are the people walking around at home. I haven't really seen them anywhere else though; I guess that's because your headquarters is there?"

"Yeah," Kia affirmed. "Anything else?"

"Sorry, no. I don't really interact with them."

"That's fine, this isn't a test. Thanks for your cooperation. We'll leave you to your business now." Kia's grin widened and she inclined her head in farewell, moving to leave.

"Oh, wait!" Samantha exclaimed on a whim. "Um, well, it's not about your company but I was wondering if you wanted this?" She held out the item she'd been fiddling with before, a low end twitter bracelet. "I won it from that kid's stall over there," she explained, pointing at a young girl with glasses who was managing a fundraising tombola, "but I don't have any need for it. Plus, it's not really worth a lot so there isn't much point selling it."

"If you're sure…" Kia said, accepting the bracelet and eliciting a smile from Samantha.

"No problem. Have a good day!" She began making her way down the street again, leaving behind the duo. Hatter stared down at Kia.

"What was that?"

"Huh? Oh, you looked like you were going to have trouble with her," Kia replied, slipping back into her normal voice as opposed to the overly polite tone she'd used for the past few minutes. "Do you ever find civilians hard to question?"

"Well…"

"See, I knew it," the girl smirked. "That outfit of yours might work on informants and criminals but it's just going to scare normal people. Being a normal person myself, I know how they think."

"You've done this before then?" Hatter asked.

"Never!" The girl beamed. "I think it went really well for a first time. And she even gave me this!" She held up the bracelet before clipping it onto her left wrist, settling it next to the translucent cuff. It felt comfortable having it there, replacing the one she'd lost weeks ago when she'd been kidnapped.

"Well I suppose the method doesn't really matter, as long as we get answers," Hatter shrugged. "It would seem that W of District 3 is a good place to search."

"Does this mean no school?"


	15. Movement

Fluke twirled a pen between his fingers as he leant back in his chair and studied his subordinate. "So you want to go to District 3 now?"

Hatter nodded. "Given that the trains were declared functional this morning, we can actively seek Open there."

The blond set the pen down slowly, saying nothing for a while, just watching a somewhat bewildered expression edge onto her face. "You seem to have forgotten something," he pointed out eventually, switching his gaze to the smaller figure beside the mercenary. "Isn't it about time to set her free?"

Kia shifted uncomfortably, her awkwardness reflected in Hatter's sheepish look.

"Ah, yes, of course, I–"

"Forgot," Fluke finished, preventing Hatter from stumbling over more words than necessary. He chuckled at how flustered she was getting. "I'm not mad; I just think we should stop inconveniencing her." _So that we can get some proper work done too_ , he added mentally. There was no doubt that Hatter had been less efficient since the girl had turned up and become a distraction.

"We'll head over to get free right away then," Hatter said quickly, finding her footing.

"Actually, I need you to stop off at Hollow's first. I've a package for him… somewhere…" Midway through his sentence Fluke stood, passing the pair as he searched for the parcel unsuccessfully. "Where did I put it?" he muttered to himself.

"Is that it?" Kia asked, pointing out an unmarked box the length of her forearm, covered by that day's newspaper when Fluke had cast it aside earlier in the morning.

"Right, thanks," he acknowledged, pitching the paper to the floor, lifting the box and giving it to Hatter. "Here."

"What's in it?" she queried, frowning at the box as though she expected it would attack her or spontaneously combust. Not that she could be blamed for being wary, given that both incidences had occurred before.

"Nothing important," Fluke answered vaguely, not alleviating her suspicions in the slightest. He sat back down in his chair, briefly considering putting his feet up on the desk before deciding against. "Well go on then; go," he prompted. Hatter rolled her eyes.

 

* * *

 

Kia let out a sigh of relief as they exited the station. "I honestly thought the tracks would disappear from under us the whole way here."

"Do you really think we're so incompetent that we'd let the same attack happen twice? Have _some_ trust in me," Hatter joked, tawdrily acting like she'd been insulted.

"Of course I don't think that, but it's a little difficult remembering logic when you're trying to work out how long it would take to hit the ground," the girl pouted. “I reckon it’s about 8.5 seconds.” Hatter smirked as she shifted the box she carried to her other arm.

"Well you're really out of luck today because we're using the maintenance lift too." She pointed at it across the street, watching a horrified expression form on her companion's face.

"Do we have to?"

"Only way in. No public access to a warfare expert's home and workshop after all."

"I guess… but I'd still rather risk the destruction of the nation than use those horrific lifts."

Hatter raised an eyebrow. "Your priorities are messed up."

"Tell me something I don't know." Kia stared at the offending elevator's doors, steeling herself for the journey. Taking a deep breath she strode over and stopped abruptly when she reached them, and Hatter admired her determination to keep up at least the semblance of courage.

 **Please identify yourself and your destination** , instructed a generic AI.

"Hatter, Level 98."

**_Welcome back, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower."

**_I'll open the door then._ **

The entry opened as Juke took command of it from his inferior and Hatter waved a pale Kia in before joining her. "I thought Juke was free-thinking; what's with the repetitious questions?" the girl asked, trying to distract herself as the lift began to rise.

"It's just a protocol. No need for a massive conversation every time I want to go through a door."

"Right." She shut her eyes and tried not to think of anything until they reached their destination, whereupon she practically leapt out of the compartment. Hatter quickly addressed and unlocked the entrance before them as Kia regained her sanity. Beyond was a face familiar to the mercenary, waiting for them.

"Hatter! What took you so long?"

"Backlog at the stations, Cally."

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"

"Never," Hatter replied, not even trying to hide the blatant lie. "Kia, this is Peace. Peace, this is Kia." She gestured to each in turn, Kia adding a stilted wave as she was examined.

"Yeah, heard about her from Fluke. You guys want to come in?" He indicated to the room that opened out behind him, at least half of the Level without barriers or partitions, filled with strange contraptions midway through construction and blueprints (both electronic and hand drawn) everywhere. The pair stepped through and as Hatter handed the box to Peace, her companion caught sight of someone working intently in the middle of the room at an almost circular desk. "Oi, Hollow," Peace called as they neared, causing the namesake to peer up from the circuitry he was examining. "Catch."

The box sailed through the air straight toward Hollow, who caught it smoothly without so much as a glance in its direction. "Is it urgent?"

"Fluke sent it, so probably. Oh, he also sent Hatter, with a plus one."

Hollow seemed to notice them for the first time, sitting up straighter and putting down his tools. "Good to see you Hatter. Who's the 'plus one', as Peace puts it?" He began opening the box as she answered.

"This is Kia. We have some circumstances." They simultaneously raised their wrists and Peace leant forward to get a better look at them, whilst Hollow seemed to know exactly what the handcuffs were already.

"Did the idiot leave his doors unlocked or what? I would have thought he had at least enough sense to stop this kind of thing from happening." He shook his head in exasperation. "Never mind that though. What is Fluke having issues with now?" He held up the contents of the box, which appeared to be a fried temperature control panel. "If this is about his air conditioning again I swear I will kill him myself," Hollow scowled, plucking a note from the underside of the device. He read it in silence, frowned harder, then pried apart the casing of the panel to retrieve the tiny black box and hook it up to one of several computers on the desk.

"You guys want tea?" Peace asked as Hollow worked. Both girls nodded immediately. "Okay, go make three black teas and one green," he waved over at metal humanoid figure that freakily mimicked an actual person's movements while still being obviously mechanic. It wandered off through the workshop to some unseen area behind a large and ambiguous looking machine.

"Well this is an issue," Hollow said suddenly, causing their attention to return to him. "I might even go with 'problem' depending on how this pans out."

"What've we got?" Peace wandered to the desk and turned the screen to face him. "Oh, it's a V-8112."

"It is?" Hatter looked surprised, clearly not having expected such a thing, whatever it was.

"Right, sorry for being the awkward one, but what _is_ that?" Kia asked, not content with her lack of knowledge.

"A virus," Hatter explained. "It originated around 2 years ago."

"Oh!" Kia's face lit up as though she had realised something. "Is that anything to do with the Operating Scandal? The one there's no evidence for?"

Peace laughed. "Man, people are still talking about it though we did the whole cover-up thing? Evanz is _never_ going to live that down!"

"Don't be mean Cally, it wasn't his fault," Hatter scolded, ignoring the protestations to the nickname in favour of addressing Kia. "Look, V-8112 appeared when Evanz released a batch of products with a new operating system, and it essentially destroyed every last piece of data in whatever item it was active in. Everything was recalled so we could remove the virus, but it had already unwritten itself, and Evanz revised his program so that it was safe. That's the Tower we know today. V-8112 doesn't exist anymore."

"Well clearly you're wrong about that," Hollow pointed out. "This panel was only infected in the last few weeks, at most; maybe days."

"What, so you think someone recreated the virus?" Peace asked, crossing his arms. "I think we can class this as a 'problem'."

"However it turns out, call me if you need me," Hatter said. "We'll go and get these handcuffs off and then I'll return to Fluke."

Hollow stared at the mercenary as though she hadn't realised something. "How do you plan to do that?"

She frowned at him. "Don't play any avoidance games, what is it that I don't know?" He sighed and put his elbow on the desk and his chin on his hand.

"That prototype is something only the creator can remove as of now, as I'm sure you already understand. Your problem really lies in the fact that Rage is currently away, and we don't know when he'll be back."


	16. Out of Sync

Hatter stared at them blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Rage went home because his brother is sick. We can't disturb them and we don't know how long it will be before Alex is better," Hollow replied, meeting her stare.

"Sick?" Kia queried, voice laden with concern. "I thought it was impossible to get sick unless the disease is _extremely_ bad."

"Or new," Hollow added. "It takes some time for nano-protectors to upgrade fully when they're already in the bloodstream. And there's also the possibility that Alex just really wanted attention from his brother."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Hatter agreed, the frown on her face indicating that she was altering her plans. Hollow was right; it wasn't appropriate to ask Rage to come back to London just to take off the handcuffs, nor could they intrude upon his household when he might soon lose his brother. Kia wouldn't hinder her work that much, but she knew that the girl missed her family a great deal too and perhaps wasn't fully prepared to stay with the mercenary – physically or mentally.

"Looks like you're stuck with us for a while longer, Plus One," Peace joked at Kia, who simply looked confused.

"What did you–"

"Oh!" Peace cut her off, catching movement in his peripherals and looking to the returning humanoid robot. "Tea!" Three heads simultaneously whipped round to follow his line of sight and Peace wished he could have caught the moment on camera; their joint reaction to the word was quite amusing. The automaton took the tea-bearing tray to Hollow first, then Hatter, who watched it suspiciously.

"What is this thing?" she asked as it moved on to serve Peace and Kia.

"It's a Bipedal Automated Tinman," Hollow supplied. He rolled his eyes at Hatter's disapproving glance. "Yes, we _were_ somewhat inebriated when we named them. We call them 'Bats' for short. They're soldiers, so don't attack any of the prototypes; I've five wandering around."

The mercenary hummed in understanding. "Maybe they'd do a good job as prison guards too."

"You see, that's what I thought. But then Rage sent back all of the test models I gave him, two days into the trial. Apparently they developed a fault and would attack him every time he walked by." The smirk on Hollow's face meant that this behaviour was anything but a fault, and likely involved a programed response to Rage's biometrics. Hatter snickered as she sipped her tea, imagining the man's increasing irritation every time he was assaulted by the machines, then his anger when he worked out why; which he surely had, given his IR.

"What kind of weapons do they have?"

"Some basics, some more… advanced. Explaining it all to you would be difficult. But I can set them to hand combat only, if that's what you're asking?" There was no real question about it. Hollow already knew what Hatter was after.

"Could you?"

"What, now?"

"Now."

"Just one?"

"For the moment."

"Sure?"

"I only want to try it."

"Not in here you won't," Peace scowled, interrupting the stunted conversation. "I just got everything ordered and I don't want you messing it all up."

Kia glanced around at the chaos of blueprints and machines. If this was what 'ordered' looked like then she wasn't certain she wanted to see the Floor's usual condition. Beside her Hatter quickly finished her tea as Hollow swung his chair round to face another monitor and typed, fingers flying. "Done," he announced eventually, hitting the final key with marginally more enthusiasm. "Test Room 2 is free right now." Hatter nodded and immediately set off through the kaleidoscope of inventions with the Bat in tow. It wasn't until she felt a tug on her left wrist, sending a flash of pain through her, that Kia realised she was supposed to be going too.

Taking care not to spill any more of her practically full mug of tea (sadly she couldn't help the tiny pool on the floor she'd caused a moment ago as a result of flinching) Kia picked up her pace to locate the mercenary. "So what exactly are we doing?" she asked, hesitating as she drew alongside the intimidation of a 7ft. android.

" _I_ will be training," Hatter explained as they finally reached a door, which for once opened with a simple button and closed with another on the other side. " _You_ will stand by the wall and drink tea." She took hold of the girl's shoulders and manoeuvred her to the edge of the room, as far out of the way as possible. The quarter of the Level that wasn't Hollow's workshop was separated into several unique Test Rooms and this particular one was padded, but Hatter still didn't want to take the unnecessary risk of having Kia be identified as a target by being too close. So by the wall she would stand, and thankfully it seemed Test Room 2 was just small enough that Hatter didn't need to worry about exceeding the chain's 25 metre limit.

She guided the Bat to the middle of the room and stood before it, giving a quick once over to get a basic understanding of its structure. The quiet whirring of the cameras in the room alerted her to the fact that Hollow was watching and recording; of _course_ he was using her to test his products. It hadn't really been a possibility that he let her train with it only because she wanted to. He had to know what he could improve and if she had offered herself to help – even unknowingly – then he wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

"Bring it on," she signalled. Within moments the machine threw a punch straight at her face as Hollow overrode the safety mechanisms. Hatter quickly learnt that the Bat had no speech capabilities when it refused to respond to any taunting and switched to the simple tactic of plain old forcing. A sweeping kick attempted to knock her feet from under her and she jumped just in time to avoid the attack, landing on the metal leg briefly before using it as a launch pad to go further into the air and over its head. She hit the ground low and gave a thrusting kick to the back of its knee, only to roll out of the way before her foot connected as the Bat leant backward in a way no human could in order to reach her. The mercenary ran to the other side of the room to see how long it would take for the machine to catch up and found, to her irritation, that it did so extremely quickly.

It struck out again and its hand went straight through the padding on the wall as Hatter leapt out of the way, pulling a capsule from her bandoliers as she went. She didn't need to look to know which symbol was on the end of the metal cylinder and she twisted the two sections, dropping it as the Bat freed itself. There was usually no sound and nothing to see as the device activated, but the ripple of light that flowed across the automaton's body made her curse as she realised it had technology to nullify her EMP. Well, it only made sense since it was Hollow who made the contents of her bandoliers in the first place.

Kia could feel her mouth dropping open in awe. Sure, she'd heard the stories, and sure, she knew Hatter could fight, but she hadn't realised just what that meant. The flurries of movement interspersed with perfect moments of stillness alerted her to just how conscious the mercenary was of everything around her, that might affect her, that could help her. The long coat would fluidly swell out behind Hatter without getting in the way at all, and the image of it seemed like something one would find in a movie and almost certainly in slow motion. Kia wondered what it was that she dropped on the floor but knew it hadn't worked from the angry look on her face. Still she continued to fight flawlessly against the machine that reacted remarkably like a human – until it didn't, and bent in peculiar directions. It was these oddities that reminded Kia that Hatter was fighting technology designed to be used in warfare, even if it were currently under limitations.

"Come on," she found herself encouraging quietly, but clearly that was the wrong thing to do. The Bat twitched as it registered her presence before turning to her and running. For a moment Kia was certain she'd be killed.

Hatter's insides froze as her opponent moved away. She lost her grip on real time and slipped into the state where she was able to analyse what to do next with eons to spare. What felt like hours to her would be a mere second to everyone else; Hollow had once said that it was similar to what he felt when talking to other people, save a few. For her, it was Desynchronising.

She would make the Bat rue the day he turned his back on her, metaphorically speaking. She didn't think it was capable of higher brain function. Hatter quickly compiled what she had learnt in the short period she had been fighting. Shielding against external EMPs. Casing made of some alloy that was not only lightweight but extremely resistant to kicking too. Strength five or six times greater than her own. Mobility and flexibility that one could never attain even with years of training.

There.

The mercenary had already zeroed in on her target before a smile even reached her lips. The machine wasn't a metre from her yet so she lunged, grabbing hold of its neck with her left hand as the other slid a capsule free of its bindings and activated it. Finding she didn't quite have enough hands, Hatter pulled herself up using the Bat as a focal point and pushed its head forward with her right foot whilst pulling back on its neck. In the brief instant it took for Kia to noticeably register what was happening Hatter had released the capsule and it fell into the inner workings of the machine. She let go and stabilised when she hit the floor, the EMP going off and causing the Bat to topple forward and land mere moments after she had.

Hatter took her first breath in a while as she resynchronised, her vision widening to include the entire room again, not just Kia and the prone automaton. She may have used the strange ability twice in the girl’s presence already, but doubted Kia had even noticed there was something more to the moderator’s skills yet.

"Are you okay?" Kia asked, warily stepping around the Bat in obvious fear that it would rise up again and attack.

"Yeah," the mercenary replied, barely feeling exerted. It had only been a few minutes since they entered the Test Room after all, though it probably felt longer to Kia as well. Hatter looked up at one of the cameras, knowing that they were still being watched and it was the creator preventing the Bat from rebooting currently. "I just found a few issues with Hollow's soldiers."


	17. Summons to War

You're really good at fighting, you know," Kia complimented when she had fully calmed down, taking a sip from the mug of tea she had miraculously managed to not spill even during her fear.

"I know," Hatter admitted, leaning against the wall and staring down at the deactivated Bat. After a little while she looked away, meeting the silently laughing eyes of the girl and wondering just what had amused her this time.

"Modest too, I see," she chuckled. "But given that you saved me, I think I can let the boasting slide this one time."

"What? No, I wasn't boasting – I mean – I just meant that you have to have some skill at fighting to qualify as a Combat mercenary."

"Most of those mercenaries couldn't have done that fight as well as you though."

"Well… my work involves more unusual situations than most Combat-type jobs so I’m used to it, I suppose…"

"It's such a privilege to see you in battle up close! I will remember this for the rest of my life!"

Hatter's eyes narrowed as she caught on to what Kia was doing. The cheek, to try and embarrass _her_. "Oh, I see. You want to train with me, right? Bring it on." She slipped into a threatening stance that any experienced fighter could tell was useless and had many weaknesses, but it served its purpose of freaking out a civilian. Kia spluttered into her tea at the proposition, clearly panicking at the concept of trading blows with her.

"I can't! I don't know the first thing about fighting!"

The mercenary relaxed to a normal standing position and laughed openly until Kia's face turned sour as she realised she'd been played with.

"Oh you're horrible. I don't like you anymore." The girl pouted and turned away with the intention of drinking her tea, only to find that she'd already finished most of it unconsciously.

Hatter's laugh faded into a simple smile. "Hey, don't complain when you're the one who started it. Tell you what; I'll teach you some basics, then you'll be able to defend yourself."

"Will this involve pain and injury?"

"Not yet."

"'Yet' she says. 'Yet'," Kia muttered to herself. "That _really_ makes me feel comfortable with this idea."

"Oh come on," Hatter pushed, prodding her in the shoulder until she finally turned back around. "If you want to help me in my work without dying then you most certainly want to have at least a little bit of skill."

"Fine." She placed her mug on the ground before helping Hatter to drag the Bat to the edge of the room. The mercenary led her to the centre and demonstrated the best ways to keep balanced whilst not providing a dozen targets for the opponent, then how to deliver the most straightforward of attacks. After half an hour of practice, occasional falling over and an abundance of sniggering from Hatter, the pair had determined that Kia had no ability whatsoever for combative actions. Hatter mercifully assigned her the much simpler task of distracting enemies should the situation require such actions.

"You can't get very far from me anyway, so I'm kind of obligated to protect you," the mercenary pointed out, to Kia's relief, but not elaborating enough to tell her that if either one of them died then the pseuvi technology on their wrists would fail, which meant explosions and farewell for the other too.

"Are you two ever going to leave?" asked the Bat suddenly as it stood up, causing Kia to hide behind Hatter in fear. The mercenary herself wasn't frightened though, recognising that Peace was speaking through the automaton. She deduced that its reactivation had taken as long as it had because Hollow had wandered off, as he was prone to do, leaving Peace to return the Bat to its previously benign state.

"We were only waiting for you and your slow programming, Cally," she joked, reassuring Kia that it was safe with a quick smile.

"Oh ha ha, very funny," Peace replied, the sarcasm so strong that Hatter actually managed a grin. "Yes, let's make fun of the guy who can't quite compete with the Hollow's speed - well _sorry_ for not being a _genius_! I'll have you know I managed this in less than half the time anyone else would, and that I could also just seal you into the Test Room if I feel like it."

"Too late," Hatter replied, hitting the exit button and gesturing for Kia to leave first before following her. "All you can do now is lock the Bat in."

There was a long enough silence that Hatter began to wonder if Peace had disconnected the communication line, but then the android began to move out of the room too. "Fine, you've made your point. Just hope you won't need anything from me from now on, because I won't help you."

The pair headed to the central area, Bat in tow and Kia looking up at the taller girl as they walked. "Is he sulking?" she whispered, feeling as though she were being slightly insulting and not wanting Peace to think too badly of her.

"Yes." Hatter had no such qualms, and figured it would be a day, maybe two, before Peace was over it; he was one of the few people she felt comfortable enough with to mock, which he knew and understood. Most would deem it a peculiar way to show affection, hence why she preferred not to explain.

"Where did Hollow go?" Kia asked as they came within sight of the circular desk, now with only one man standing by it.

"He went to work on the nuclear bolt again," Peace answered, hitting a couple of keys to return the Bat to free roaming mode. Hatter raised an eyebrow at his answer.

"I thought you weren't helping us?"

He scowled darkly. "I'm not helping _you_. I'm fine with Plus One over there, she's nice."

"Oh, discrimination in the workplace! Breach of rights! Clear favouritism toward the new girl! No wonder I can't get promoted!" Hatter put on a fake accusatory air, throwing Kia off as she wasn't quite used to this side of her.

"You're a mercenary!" Peace countered, rolling his eyes. "You don't _have_ rights to the promotion system."

"So?"

The man was at loss for what to say, so just decided to resort to ignoring her, turning back to the computer screens and pointedly looking away every time she tried to make eye contact. Eventually Hatter gave up and gave her attention to Kia instead, the girl having wandered away to get a closer view of some of the inventions in the room.

"What's this?" she asked when she felt the air move next to her, meaning that Hatter was now adjacent.

"Skyscraper shell. The flight path takes it directly down through the centre of a scraper before it detonates at the base. People in the upper Levels die from the sudden exposure to the Mist which is agitated to a higher altitude than normal by the blast that killed those in the lower Levels."

"Horrible."

"I suppose."

"And this?" The girl pointed to a small, disc-shaped device that would fit quite snugly into the palm of the hand. The outer edge of it was ringed with purple lights that pulsated gently and in the centre was a button, indented so it couldn't be pressed accidentally.

"It's a gravity manipulator," she answered, pulling Kia's inquisitive hand away from it gently. "I couldn't tell you what program it's been loaded with, so don't touch. You might go flying off into the next scraper."

"Right, okay." Kia kept her hand close to herself for a few moments before forgetting entirely about any danger and picking up an oddly shaped item. "What's this?"

"I don't know; a new prototype." There was a small cracking sound and it split into two pieces in Kia's hand, her eyes widening in guilt as she slowly looked at the mercenary directly. "Correction; a _broken_ prototype. Quick, put it down." Her order was followed immediately and she took Kia by the arm, leading her away from the inventions before she could break anything that might actually have been armed. "If Hollow asks, you saw one of the Bats step on it." Frantic nodding indicated that Kia had been sufficiently scared off from messing with any more unknown devices. Hatter was beginning to wonder just how much of Hollow's profession the girl had grasped, then realised that she probably just didn't understand the severity of war and his place in it as a propagator. Ignorance was only to be expected of a sheltered civilian.

Hatter herself hadn't experienced war, barely anyone had these days, but she had certainly aided in the termination of one before it even began. 'An accident', the news had said, an accident that had caused the total destruction of Moscow. Only she, Fluke and Hollow knew the reality of the situation, and they would all take the information to their graves in order to maintain diplomatic relations between Britain and the rest of Russia.

"Did you say it was District 3, Building W you were headed for?" Peace called to them, the tone of his voice telling Hatter that it was no longer time for joking.

"I did. Why?"

He looked over at her, eyes broadcasting his concern. "The routine scan just picked up some major power fluctuations from that scraper, but the generator isn't due maintenance for another six years."

"How major?"

"Down to 10%."

Both girls' eyes widened, even Kia knowing just how severe a power failure that was for an up-to-date generator. "We really ought to get going then," Hatter said hurriedly, glancing at her companion to ensure she was ready to leave. Then she turned back to Peace. "I thought you weren't going to help me?"

"You call this 'helping'? This isn't 'helping'." His face was grim as he double checked the figures he was getting from the scraper in hopes that it was just a system error, despite knowing that it couldn't possibly be. "This is pushing you right into danger."


	18. Lockdown

Building W was cold. The chill hit the pair as they exited the train, causing Kia to wince slightly at the sudden climate change. Hatter studied the scraper's data, which Peace was relaying to the holographic display above her right hand. "Power's back to normal but the heating systems were knocked out," she summed up, simplifying the information she'd read for Kia's sake. The outside had quickly lowered the temperature of the building despite the quantity of heat-producing humans contained within; the mercenary was grateful for both her coat and her foresight in getting Kia a cardigan, which was finally in use rather than just being tied around the girl's waist.

"It's funny that the heating broke," she commented and it took Hatter a moment to realise that she meant 'peculiar' as opposed to 'amusing'.

"Not really. There's a failsafe program that activates after extended or dramatic power failures. First the heating goes, then–" The area around them abruptly went dark, and cries of irritation sounded from the civilians still determined to go about their business. "…the lights," Hatter finished, finding an odd sense of satisfaction at how well timed her words were, though the feeling certainly wasn't acceptable in such a situation. "Peace normally has the problem sorted before the next stage."

"Which is?" Kia inquired, having only experienced localised blackouts before, never one like this.

"The air filtration stops. Everything gets a bit stale and after about an hour there begin to be side effects, like oxygen deprivation in the Upper Levels."

"I think I remember that happening last year in District 4," Kia recalled, frowning from the effort of doing so. "Was that a fight with bounty hunters too?"

"No," Hatter shook her head. "That was an unexpected physical fault so I had to send someone out when Peace couldn't fix it remotely, which obviously means the program had more time to advance."

"’Unexpected physical fault’?"

"A rat chewed a wire."

"Oh. That's anticlimactic."

"Tell me about it," Hatter huffed. "We're lucky we made it in time otherwise the mains would've shut off and the scraper would have been deadlocked."

Kia's head tilted left and a confused expression decorated her face. "Why would a power cut make the building lock?"

"I told you, it's a pre-set response. If the program reaches the full power outage stage then it's assumed we _can't_ solve the issue and the scraper is quarantined. Even the train links are broken. The only way in is through the base, and you still need the keycode to do that."

"Do you have it?" Kia asked, then feeling taken aback when Hatter answered with a negative.

"No. The only person in this continent who knows it is the Queen."

"Not even Rage knows? Wow, that is a serious level of secrecy." She seemed almost impressed, but then frowned. "Doesn't that mean everyone's stuck inside if the Queen decides not to let them out?"

"Absolutely," the mercenary affirmed. "But it won't bother them for long, because the final stage is the Atmospheric Convertors being shut down."

"What?!"

"The entire AtCon loop in the scraper stops."

"Yes, I got that!" Kia grumbled. "But wouldn't that kill them all when the Mist falls? That’s too much for anybody!"

"That's the point; the Queen has a week to decide if they can be saved and if not, they're removed. To be quite honest though, most of the inhabitants' brains will be too addled by lack of oxygen to even realise what's going on."

The girl's eyes were wide in horror. "How can you say that like it doesn't matter?"

"Because it's not a bad way to go." Hatter tried to think of the worst death she knew of but found it impossible. The aftermath of a Jumper was pretty gruesome though.

"What gives you the right to say it's a 'good way'?" Kia berated angrily, still hung up over Hatter's apparent apathy toward the result of the failsafe.

"Because I know."

"What, so you saw someone dying and thought, 'looks nice', is that it? How can you know what they felt?"

"Because I survived."

Before Kia could say anything in response there was a loud beeping noise, making them both remember where they were – standing outside the train station surrounded by civilians watching them with curious or irritated expressions, parting either side with a wide berth so as to avoid the conflict. Looking somewhat sheepish at her outburst, Kia identified the source of the beeping sound as the Twitter bracelet on her wrist. She raised it up, causing the pseuvi next to it to glimmer at the movement, and glanced at Hatter in bewilderment. "But I haven't signed in yet."

There was a pause as Hatter processed. "Then who sent you a message?" The pair focussed warily on the communication device, their previous dispute forgotten for now. Kia activated the display so that it appeared, hovering above the bracelet.

- _He just went through the maintenance door by the bookstore. Catch him and you might get some answers. –Figit–_

"Who is it from?" Hatter asked. Kia peered up through her fringe.

"Figit."

The mercenary frowned at the name. First they contacted them through Juke, and now through an unsigned comms device? She hadn't thought the latter was even possible. "We should probably do as they say. But stay on guard – we don't know if this Figit fellow is trustworthy." She strode toward the aforementioned door and pulled it open, Kia quickly following into the almost pitch black hallway, the only light their chain.

"Well this is creepy," Kia commented, making Hatter roll her eyes. Down the hallway echoed the sound of footsteps, alerting them to the presence of the 'him' they'd been instructed to apprehend.

**_Hatter._ **

"What _now_ , Juke?" she hissed, concerned that both the CI and her companion had informed the target of their pursuit.

**_Peace has been locked out of Building W's systems by a third party. He doesn't know how long it will take to work around them, even with Hollow's help._ **

"Shit," was Hatter's immediate response to the information. "Come on, Kia," she addressed the girl. They had to catch 'him' quickly so they could get out of the scraper before the filtration was terminated by the system. "Kia?" The civilian was distracted, gazing out at nothing and seemingly unable to focus on the taller girl.

"Can you smell that?" she asked, voice softened and slowed as though it were travelling through viscous fluid. "It smells of vanilla."

"What _are_ you talking about?" She breathed in deeply to see if Kia was right. "It's doesn't. If anything, it smells really strongly of tea."

"Tea doesn't smell strongly though…"

"Sure it do–" Hatter's eyes widened as she realised. "No. No, it _doesn't_." She tried to get to the door so they could escape but found her knees going weak and the floor rushing up to her instead. She groaned at the impact, dimly aware that Kia had also collapsed in a similar way behind her. Despite her efforts to resist the urge to blink, her eyelids slowly edged shut.

 

* * *

 

It was bright. Strange sounds reached the mercenary through a haze of white noise, along with an echoing call of 'Hatter'. Who was that? Was it her mother, waking her up for school? She sounded worried. Was she late? No, she didn't go to school. Not anymore. So who was calling her? Peace? It was a female voice though, she was sure of it. Sky then? What was Sky doing in London so soon? She was there to help catch… catch whom? Hatter had been trying to catch someone just now hadn't she? Catching someone in the dark but - be careful! Don't leave behind…

 _Kia_.

Hatter's eyes snapped open as she remembered what had just happened, the calling now becoming clear-cut sound and recognisable as Kia's worried tone. Her eyes focussed on the ground she lay on, a green carpet consisting of long, thin strands of fibres. She rolled onto her back and sat up groggily, much to the obvious relief of her companion. "Kia," she began eventually, throat dry as though she hadn't spoken for hours. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What about you? I've been waiting for you to wake up."

"Mostly fine. But it smelt so strongly of _tea_."

Kia placed a hand on her shoulder to look closer at her, finding that she was responsive enough to warrant less concern. "Tea doesn't smell strongly though…" Hatter's eyes narrowed at the repeated line, but it didn't seem like she was angry as such.

" _Exactly_. And you said there was a different smell, didn't you?"

The girl nodded, sitting back with her legs folded beneath her. "Vanilla. Like the flavoured drinks I have during the holidays, before I go to bed."

Hatter bit her thumb as she considered this. "As I thought. Look, this might sound weird but it's the truth; we're still asleep." Kia stared at her as though, for once, it was the mercenary being slow on the uptake.

"Yes, I know."


	19. Somnium

'Confused' was not quite a good enough word to describe how Hatter was feeling. 'Perplexed' was better, 'bewildered' even more so, and she had no choice in whether to show the turmoil to her companion or not.

"Look around you," Kia suggested, prompting her to become more aware of their current surroundings. As Hatter had noted before, they were sat on a green carpet; looking closer, the long fibres tore too easily to be synthetic material and left stains on her fingers when she tested them. Grass. And out in the distance stood structures of varying heights and shapes, each with a pitted and rough-looking central column that diverged in the top half which was covered in thin green papers. Hatter had seen imitations and read accounts before so she tried to put a name to what she saw. Trees? Yes, that seemed right. Her thoughts were unnaturally slow but did seem to be picking up a little. She turned to look at Kia again, who shrugged in indifference, clearly unsurprised by their impossible surroundings. "I know I'm asleep because this is a recurring dream of mine. _You're_ not normally here though. Do you like my sky?"

She pointed upward and the mercenary followed her gaze to witness the phenomenon. The air above them was fluctuating between different shades of blue, blue-greens and blue-blacks, even coming dangerously close to the realm of purple. Though part of her was adamant the sky was miles away from them, another more rational part said that it seemed like a flat painted surface no further than the ceiling in a scraper Level. "What's wrong with it?" she asked, without thinking.

"Hey!" Kia pouted, not missing her inadvertent insult. "There's nothing wrong with it! I just can't decide on what type of blue it should be because _I've never seen the sky_. Don't you remember?"

"I remember, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Hatter frowned after uttering the apology, intent on gathering her thoughts together, when something occurred to her. "Wait, do you think I'm a figment of your imagination? I'm real."

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Kia snorted in disbelief. "Okay, if you were – hypothetically – the real Hatter, how did you get into my dream?"

"It's not your dream." The mercenary paused, reconsidering her words and the way they would be taken. "Well, it _is_ your dream, but it's now part of a bigger network. A dream world, if you will."

"Now you're just making things up."

"I'm not, though it does sound ridiculous. We were hit by a Shared Dream Inducer, which–"

"Let me guess," Kia interrupted, holding up a hand to emphasise her intention. "It uses electrical signals similar to those of the human body to gather data from our brains and loads it all onto an interface that can have multiple users, then places us in a comatose state so we can access it."

Hatter stared. "How did you know that?"

"This is a dream. Sometimes you just know things," Kia shrugged. "I don't get how smells are linked to the device though. I know they _are_ , I just can't fathom _how_."

"The Inducer disrupts normal brain signals, and there are side effects," Hatter began. "One is when the device first connects to you; the anterior olfactory nucleus is stimulated and you imagine a scent that you associate with sleep, usually at a higher intensity than the real smell because memories interfere. Hence the vanilla for you, and tea for me. That's how I knew we were dealing with an Inducer."

The mercenary only needed a glance at Kia's face to know the girl was burning with questions about something and was only waiting until she was certain Hatter had finished talking. "Side effects? Plural? What else?"

"Your inhibitors are dulled and you say or do things you normally wouldn't, or wouldn't in _that_ way."

"You get drunk?"

"Basically."

"I've never been drunk."

"Welcome to the closest thing then."

"Thanks."

Kia grinned, and Hatter repaid in turn. "Still, it makes it physically impossible to lie here. Or I suppose I should say 'mentally'. I'm not too sure."

"Mentally, I think," Kia inputted, considering the dilemma fully.

"Mentally it is. But we ought to get out of here now, before…"

"What?"

"Remember what Juke said?" Hatter frowned, all semblance of cheer gone abruptly. "Peace and Hollow are having trouble cancelling the failsafe. The air filtration could cut out and we wouldn't even know, not in here."

Kia brought a hand to her mouth as she thought. "So we have an hour or so before oxygen deprivation begins to get out of here. That doesn't seem too hard."

"But time passes differently in dreams," Hatter pointed out, realising that concern was written all over her face. The mercenary knew she could survive several days with low oxygen; she had forcefully developed the mutation that all those in the Lower Levels were born with in her own genome, which meant her blood would bond with and store more oxygen molecules than anyone from the Upper Levels. Kia, however, had no such trait and would soon suffer once the filtration system failed.

"Then we hurry," Kia replied calmly, making Hatter wonder if she truly grasped that this was reality and not just a plotline of a dream. It didn't matter, as long as the girl cooperated. "How do we get out?"

Hatter got to her feet and Kia followed her example. "I don't think we can from here. Maybe from the trees though." A silent understanding passed between them and they headed for the plants, which seemed to leap a lot closer once they knew that was where they wanted to be. Suddenly they were deep within the forest, with the impression of having walked all the way there. "Seriously; why trees?" Hatter asked as they scanned their surroundings.

"Have you ever been to the Eden Tower?" Kia queried, crouching down to prod a stick as though it might be a lever or button to a secret exit. "I take your silence as a 'no'. This is what it looks like in there, full of plants and trees; living things you can't find anywhere else in the world! It's spectacular. Simply beautiful."

"Sounds like something special," Hatter commented, pausing in her search to study the girl, who took no notice of her halting.

"You bet it is. Since then I've been having this dream. The concept of forests and plains from fantasy books, the memory of trees from Eden Tower and my own personal sky – it's what the world used to look like in ancient times." She halted too and straightened up, meeting Hatter's eyes and smiling. "At least, I _hope_ it looked like this."

"You're crazy," the mercenary said, not as an observation but as though it were fact.

"I know. I just found a door in a _tree_."

"What?" Kia pointed to the tree she was standing by and after a little bit of looking a seam appeared in the bark, with the proportions of a regulation doorway. "How do we open it though? I can't see an access panel."

Kia's face lit up as she had an idea. "You've been working with Hollow for around four years, right?"

"Yes?"

"Then let's try this! Welcome back, Ha ** _tter. Who is behind you?_** "

The mercenary gaped in disbelief and partial terror. "That was disturbing. What on Earth was that?"

"I thought maybe your brain would respond to words you hear regularly. Any creepy voice changes can be blamed on you," Kia grinned in success, having not been certain her plan would work. "Go on. Answer."

Hatter hesitantly looked toward the door again, which suddenly seemed more flat than rounded like the other tree trunks. "Err… A Hollower…"

**_I'll open the door then._ **

The section of the tree slid way, revealing an entirely different scene behind it. Hatter stepped through with Kia following behind, moving cautiously as though something terrible might happen. The moment Kia's foot was out of the way the door slid shut abruptly behind them and the new location took on life.

"Why is it so cold?" Kia yelled out the question over the sudden wind that had picked up, wrapping her arms and cardigan closer around her. The ever present hum of Atmospheric Convertors that she was accustomed to in normal life was now a lot louder due to proximity, which didn't help, and looking around Kia could see the machinery itself. And no walls. This was part of a scraper, for sure, but where were the walls? And the ceiling? Why was the Mist above them so close?

Hatter turned to her, an ecstatic grin on her face and suddenly looking a lot younger – too young for Kia to _not_ be aware that her brain was being interfered with. "Welcome to Level 101, Kia!" the mercenary cried out in apparent joy, even her voice sounding like it came from a time long past, as though she really were a girl in her early teens. "Otherwise known as the roof!"

"This is your dream then, I take it?" Kia asked, standing closer to the elated girl and feeling very peculiar when she found they were now similar in height. In fact, Kia was taller. It was just plain wrong.

"Dream? This is the most real life could ever get!" Hatter giggled. Kia was beginning to think this wasn't really Hatter. Or rather, it was her, but in a time before she was _Hatter_. Either that or she was drugged.

"Okay, no, I can't do this, nope," Kia said, grabbing the Thing's arm and dragging It back to the door. This side was metal rather than bark, and had a handle which she thanked whatever architects or designers for and pushed down on without hesitating, despite much protestation from the Thing.

The moment they were through everything went dark and the Thing stopped struggling. From where she'd grabbed her arm, Kia could tell that It had now reverted back to the usual Hatter form, and hopefully the usual mind-set. An incomplete mercenary was no use to her.

"You done being the crazy one for once?" Kia asked.

"That was worse than you being Juke," Hatter agreed, disgusted at the weird 12-13 year old amalgamation of herself that she'd become. The two years of her life when everything changed, the years she wanted to avoid, and _those_ were what surfaced? This dream world had a sadistic sense of humour. "Where are we now?" the mercenary continued as light began to filter through the area from a large, suspended screen. They were in a dark room, and moving about the floor were five small creatures that were coming too close for comfort. Cats. Why cats? Well, kittens, but _why_? "Is this your dream?"

"No," Kia whispered, as though the room demanded quiet. She watched as Hatter warily moved away from the kittens that slinked toward them. "Bit of a long shot, but this wouldn't happen to be _your_ dream, would it?"

"No… and if it isn't yours…" Their eyes met in realisation. "There's someone else here."


	20. Somnium Retorta

"Did they get trapped by accident?" Kia wondered, trying to peer around the room to see if she could locate the other person but found that she couldn't see any farther than Hatter.

"Maybe," the mercenary answered, still more focussed on avoiding the kittens' clutches than searching for another person. "Or maybe they're the one who used the Inducer."

"Why would they use it on themselves though?" Kia couldn't make sense of it. "It would just put them in the same danger as we are."

"It doesn't matter unless we escape. We'll either save an innocent person, or have captured a criminal – but priority is on finding an exit. Preferably soon." The last comment was added as one of the cats crawled onto her boot, its white fur starkly contrasting against the black material.

"I take it you're not a fan of cats?" Kia chuckled, watching the panicked expression on Hatter's face as the mercenary tried to hide it and failed.

"Not really…"

"Well I like them." She picked up one of them and held it at eye level. It was different from the others: black, smaller, and had been shying away from its counterparts. "Chartreuse," Kia blurted out, surprising Hatter. "Is that a word? I feel like it is."

"It's the colour of that cat's eyes," Hatter supplied, making Kia smile. She watched cautiously as the girl held the kitten close and began stroking it slowly, then tried to shake the invader from her boot. She didn't want to hurt it, just wanted it off. "I thought this might be my nightmare at first, but it's too peaceful," she said without meaning to. She hadn't meant to worry Kia but clearly it was too late, if the look she was receiving now was anything to go by.

"Nightmare? What do you mean by that?" She scowled. "Are you hiding something from me?"

Hatter sighed in resignation, knowing she'd never hear the end of it if she didn't tell. "You didn't know what a Shared Dream Inducer was, did you? That's because they were banned thirty years ago, and their designs confiscated or destroyed."

"Why?" Kia held the black kitten closer. "This is pretty fun, minus the time limit we have. And the side effects didn't sound too bad."

"That's because I didn't tell you one of them. Well, it's more of a 'fault' to be honest."

"Oh stop being cryptic already, just tell me!" Kia snapped, in quite an unusual way for her.

"There's a _reason_ Inducers are banned!" Hatter shouted back, as though possessed by someone else's emotions. "They get into your brain, show your dreams, but they're computers! They don't know where stop, so they show your nightmares too. Look!" She snatched one of the kittens off the floor and held it up for Kia to see. The girl froze in surprise as red began to drip to the floor, the kitten's head lolling forward unnaturally. She looked down at the black cat in her arms and yelped, dropping it to the floor with a sickening _thud_ as the stench of death became noticeable.

"Hatter…" She turned to the mercenary in blank-faced distress, her arms wide as she presented the dark stain of blood that had soaked into her shirt and cardigan from the now-mutilated kitten.

"My point exactly. You didn't even notice that we'd crossed from the dream into the nightmare, though the monitor gives it away so clearly." Hatter indicated the suspended screen that was their light source, its strings of code now replaced by the laughing face of a girl, distorted by the flickering of the screen itself that indicated it would soon fail completely. "Reports say that, back when Inducers were legal, people would get trapped inside of them and couldn't be woken even with extreme outside stimulus. They would die like that. Those that managed to escape would have been driven insane by the sheer amount of nightmares they'd experienced, and frequently became Jumpers."

"So if the oxygen deprivation doesn't get us, the nightmare will," Kia summed up, suddenly a lot more calm than before. Hatter looked at her curiously and she smiled gently, almost sadly, in return. "Your face earlier gave it away. I know I'll die if we're here too long. So, logically, the next step is to just get out of this nightmare."

"Yeah," Hatter agreed, recalling that she wasn't as good at hiding things here as she was in the real world. "But how? We travelled through doors before but there isn't one now."

"I think we just need a transitional element. It was only a door before because that's what I was looking for, and what you remembered. But this isn't our dream – nightmare – so we can't control it."

"On the other hand, that means we can use what _we_ have, because it's not the stranger's," Hatter added, an idea coming to mind. "You've seen magic shows, right? A cloud of smoke and then they've disappeared, moved elsewhere."

"I have, but isn't it all done with technology? There's no magic involved."

"Look at it however you want, the key thing is that there's smoke, and they're gone. Got it?" She waited for Kia to nod before reaching for a capsule on her bandoliers. She couldn't see it but knew that the indentation on the end was a short, tapered line. "Ready?" she asked, then twisted and threw down the activated capsule.

Smoke surrounded them and Kia held firmly to the idea of disappearing, then reappearing elsewhere. She coughed as she inhaled the fumes, waving her hand in front of her to clear it away until she could see Hatter again, doing the same. The smoke dissipated, freeing them to figure out where they were.

"Damn," Hatter said upon finding that they were still in darkness. There was no light, but she had the impression that she could see normally. "It didn't work."

"It did."

She turned in curiosity to see Kia wide-eyed and fearful. The girl's eyes shot to her, almost accusatory, as though she were invading on something truly private. Well, the mercenary supposed she might be.

"Can't you tell? This isn't the same place as before. This is _my_ nightmare now."

Kia slumped to the floor, which concerned Hatter to no end. This wasn't adrenaline fuelled fear, like they had felt in the cat room, but a deep-set terror that would never see the light of day in the real world. Here though, there was no choice but to share it.

"What's there to be afraid of, Kia?" Hatter said in the most comforting tone she could manage, kneeling next to her. "There's no monster here, no horrors. There's nothing."

" _Exactly_." Kia's voice sounded distant, like she didn't even realise she was talking to Hatter anymore. It reminded her of the first night she'd known Kia – it seemed so long ago now – when the girl had voiced her desire to go home. "There's _nothing_. So much _nothing_."

"You're afraid of… nothing?"

"It's everywhere. It's already inside of me, I know it. Hatter. I don't want to have nothing. I don't want to be nothing! I just need… something… anything… just not nothing." She turned her face away, tears falling freely as she whispered, "I don't want to _feel_ nothing. Not again."

The mercenary frowned, grabbing her jaw and forcing her to make eye contact. "Now listen here, you idiot! What person who feels nothing cries like this? You have feelings! You have a future where you can be something if you want to! And do you know the most important thing you have right now?"

Kia shook her head slowly, eyes still wet with tears but no fresh ones being produced. Hatter stared at her, hard, before straightening up and pulling the girl to her feet. She let go of her and reached for another capsule.

"You have _me_. And we're getting out of here!"

Smoke enveloped them again and suddenly everything brightened as they entered a new area. Kia quickly wiped the remaining wetness from her face before Hatter could see her like that in true light. It appeared to her that out of the ordinary emotions were limited to certain areas, and though she knew she had been afraid she could no longer imagine being so. The problem was – where were they now? And what might arise this time?

"Oh this is not good," she heard Hatter comment as the smoke cleared. "I see what you meant about being able to tell."

"Your nightmare then?" Kia asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to see what a mercenary's – one who fought and hurt others – nightmare would be. What she saw didn't fulfil any expectations she had. They were stood in the centre of an open plan Level, a park, which was well lit and populated with just the right amount of smiling, happy people and their families. It didn't seem like anything dangerous was nearby, yet Hatter's gaze was transfixed upon one singular point, and her air suggested that everything was about to come crumbling down around them. Kia followed her eye line to see a teen boy looking back at them, smiling. At least, she thought he was smiling. He was too far for her to make out his face.

No. The distance had nothing to do with it. He simply didn't _have_ a face. But he was definitely smiling, and it wasn't the nice kind of smile. It was invasive, like he knew her better than she knew herself.

"Hatter, wh–"

"It's my birthday," the mercenary interrupted, caught up in the flow of the nightmare. "I'm thirteen today."

When Kia hadn't been looking, Hatter had returned to the younger state she'd encountered on the roof. Only this time she wasn't so excited, just staring at the boy. She was young in form only, and the Hatter she knew was still in there.

"Well, happy birthday then. But tell me; what's going to happen?"

"They're all going to die."


	21. Somnium Moriens

"Oh. Well… that's…" Kia's brain was burning itself out as she tried to figure out what she could do now. Hatter had saved her from the nightmare of nothing just moments ago, and now it was her turn to do the same. What if she could fix it? Stop whatever was about to happen and save everyone? She was certain that would break the nightmare at least, and leave them in a better position to escape.

But it was also impossible. Kia didn't know the first thing about stopping dastardly plots or whatever; that was Hatter's job. She was just a civilian tagging along because she had to, and for the thrill of it. So maybe something simpler, like getting rid of the boy? He creeped her out, and there was no doubt he was an integral part of the nightmare with the way the younger version of the mercenary was staring at him. It was like he'd forced her into total shutdown.

"Wow…" Kia murmured, taking a break from her thinking to really take a look at her companion. She was shorter than normal, obviously, but it was the innocent look on her face that stood out. It was the face of a Hatter that hadn't yet seen dispute and chaos. It was the face of a Kia before she met Hatter. Utter naïvety that thought it knew everything one could possibly know about how the world worked. She almost felt she shouldn't be looking at any of this, that it wasn't meant for her to ever see. But now wasn't the time to worry about propriety. Hatter was going to hate her for this, but Kia was absolutely going to interfere with everything.

"Happy birthday! Uh…" She had heard it, she knew she had. From Fluke, when he slipped up and talked close enough for her to hear. She was good at that, hearing things she wasn't supposed to through walls as private conversations took place. "Morgan! Happy Birthday, Morgan!"

It got Hatter's attention. "What? Do I know you?"

Kia continued grinning despite the filthy look she was receiving. It was mostly Hatter's personality, but with aspects of the way she used to be, not having met Kia at all. "Of course you do! I'm your friend! We first met when I broke my wrist, and you… Your mum knew first aid!" _'My mother used to work in medicine.'_ Any link, no matter how tenuous, could be used to convince Hatter of who she was. Kia had had her fingers crossed that even the legendary bodyguard had fallen and grazed herself before.

"I don't remember you meeting my mum."

"I didn't say I met her. Did you say I met her? You could have said I met her, or someone might have said I met her but anyway, it's your birthday!" The confused expression on Hatter's face only encouraged Kia. If she could keep her attention off of the creepy boy for long enough then maybe something could be done. "I was thinking of giving you a present, but I need some help. An acquaintance of mine can help get us there!"

"Get to where?" She seemed interested, but still wary. It was difficult forming coherent sentences like this, so she probably wasn't following too well. Kia was able to use only truths and misconceptions to achieve her goal in a place where her brain felt too cloyed to lie properly. She had been said 'acquaintance' because it seemed likely she'd met them at some point; Hatter didn’t appear to have the widest circle of friends.

"To Level 101! Otherwise known as the roof!" Repeating the mercenary’s own words. Kia congratulated herself for being so clever, then remembered she still had a girl to persuade. "You've met my acquaintance, you know them very well. They're about to walk out from behind that fountain." She pointed to the biggest fountain nearby, where it was impossible to see past the cascading water. Kia knew nothing of how Hatter had originally gotten to the roof, but there was no way she could have done it alone. Now she was banking on the young Hatter's dream-state gullibility, coupled with normal Hatter's memories, to bring into being whoever had given her roof access.

She waited with bated breath, desperate to see if it worked and clueless as to what to do if it didn't. There was a huge sigh of relief as a figure walked out from behind the fountain, one that Kia knew hadn't been there before. "Fluke!" she called, waving. "Over here, Fluke!"

He made his way over and Kia felt a moment of fear when he looked at her in confusion. Clearly Hatter's memories of him were strong enough for some of his personality to bleed through. "What do you want? Who are you?"

Kia laughed heartily, resulting in surprise and disbelief on both Fluke's and Hatter's faces. "What are you talking about? It's me, Kia! You're taking her to the roof, remember?" She leant closer to Hatter. "He doesn't know me _that_ well. But he'll take you to the roof."

"I won't–" Fluke began, but he stopped abruptly, a peculiar look crossing his face at the same time as a smile appeared on Hatter's. "Of course. This way." He led them to an elevator that appeared from nowhere and its doors slid open, showing the same rooftop that the two girls had been on previously. Kia quickly dragged the young Hatter through before she could notice anything wrong with the roof suddenly appearing in the middle of a park Level and shut the door behind them with her foot (how a set of sliding doors became one door with a handle she didn't know, but it was a dream; anything could happen).

"This isn't going to be a glamourous escape, I'm afraid," Kia apologised to a struggling Hatter, whom she was dragging across the rooftop. "In fact, I might be considered crazy for even _thinking_ of doing this, but it's your own fault." She paused at the edge of the roof, refusing to look down. Taking a deep breath, Kia gripped both of young Hatter's arms tightly, so she couldn't break free. She never thought she'd have to restrain the moderator in her life, but there they were. "Look, you saved me earlier, and now I'm obligated to save you. Only I'm going to get us out of here _completely_." She gave in to the temptation and glanced down over the side of the building, unable to see the ground. "The best way to wake up is to die, after all."

She gripped tighter to Hatter's arms and jumped.

 

* * *

 

Jessi paused to breathe as he proceeded down the hallway. The oxygen here was already too low to sustain him for long, but if he could just make it through the doors…

He began to feel dizzy and sat down, against his better judgement, mere metres from the entrance. Just when he thought that he'd never make it back the doors opened and someone stepped through, grabbing his arms and pulling, dragging him painfully across the floor. His arms were numb where they were holding him and something in his brain screamed that it wasn't because of the lack of oxygen. The doors shut behind them and Jessi yanked his limbs away the moment he didn't need his 'saviour' anymore. He was already beginning to think more clearly now that he had access to proper air.

"What… on Earth…" he coughed out, glaring as he propped himself against the new corridor's wall, "…did you… do? Were you trying… to kill me, Hallie?"

The girl crossed her arms and looked down at him, displeased. "Don't blame me; blame this stupid work force who thought it would be a good idea to trip me up."

"They tripped you? How is that even… Aha… ha…" The hacker gave up on laughing immediately after he started, deciding that getting more oxygen into his blood was a priority.

"It's not funny," Hallie glowered. "They tripped me into the Data-Lock."

Jessi's head shot up at that and he was glad that, for once, he didn't have his goggles on properly. Looking at her through them now might knock him out or something. "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as it could be," she answered simply, knowing that now was not the time to be insulting one another. "The only damage was on the power limiter, which probably alerted Hollow or whatever. But the Data-Lock itself was unharmed, and some newbie patched up the limiter. You'll want to take a look at it though."

"Of course I will," Jessi confirmed, adjusting himself so that he was sat up properly, though still being supported by the wall. "So it _was_ your fault…"

"It wasn't. Besides, where were you this whole time? Things would've been over a lot quicker if you'd been here to fix it."

"I was on my way back and I got waylaid by Hatter," Jessi scowled. "I had to use the Inducer."

"That doesn't explain why you were gone for another two hours," Hallie pointed out. She briefly considered sitting or kneeling so she could hear him better, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

"I got caught in the Inducer too. It took a while to hack my way out of that. Hatter was still trapped though, so she won't be following me here."

"What an idiot," Hallie snorted derisively. "You got caught in your own attack. What would the Boss say?"

"Boss knows, remember?"

The commander's eyes widened almost comically, but Jessi still couldn't muster the energy to laugh, and he berated himself for that. "Is–"

"No, Boss isn't coming up here. Not now," he answered without even needing to hear the question. It wasn't that hard to work out what she had been about to ask. He hauled himself to his feet, ignoring the offer of a hand from Hallie. "I'm going to check that limiter. Years of careful siphoning ruined because you fell into the Data-Lock _once_." Toward the end of his complaint it turned into muttering, though he didn't seem to care that Hallie could still hear him. She frowned, pledging to never help him out when he nearly died again, and pushed her blonde hair behind her ear before following him down the corridor.

"Blame your helpers who don't even know _why_ they hate me."


	22. Quiet

Kia's eyes fluttered open and she groaned at the light hitting them, turning onto her side in response. After a few moments of just lying she became aware of other people in the room, talking. Their voices were indistinguishable but as she started to awaken fully her grip on reality returned. Hadn't they been in an enclosed maintenance corridor? Where were they now?

She sat up abruptly and almost collapsed back down again as her head spun, a tumultuous exchange occurring between whoever was in the room that resulted in all of them leaving, save one. He headed toward Kia and sat on the end of the bed – was it a bed? It seemed like a bed.

"Good morning, Plus One. Are you waking up or are you about to start sleepwalking again?"

"I don't sleepwalk," she replied, voice coming out far softer than intended. It was loud enough for Peace to hear though, and he just laughed.

"I'm going to have to disagree with you there. You've caused us quite a bit of trouble with your attempts to leave Hatter behind. Can't have you dragging a patient around the scraper now, can we?"

Kia stared at him. "You aren't joking."

He grinned. "I recorded some of it, if you don't believe me."

"I believe you," she said hastily, knowing from the mischievous gleam in his eyes that there was at least one, if not multiple, embarrassing moments saved on film. "You can delete it."

"No way! Hatter still has to see!"

"Hatter?" Kia started panicking a little, much to Peace's alarm. "Is she okay? Where is she? Is she hurt?"

"Take it easy," Peace instructed, a hand on Kia's shoulder to stop her from getting up. "Hatter's just over there." He pointed across the room to another bed where the mercenary was lying, her coat folded on the cabinet next to her with bandoliers and signature hat resting on top. "We were a bit surprised that you woke up first, but as long as you can tell us what happened then it doesn't really matter."

Kia's gaze lingered on the still form of her companion, a surprisingly clear recollection of their 'dream' coming to mind. "How long were we there for?"

"In Building W? Five hours."

The girl's eyes narrowed as she recognised the tone of someone withholding information. "And how long have we been _asleep_?"

"…four days. But that's because of the Inducer, not any physical complications."

"I think that explains why I woke up first. We were in Hatter's nightmare the longest, so maybe she's still recuperating mentally," Kia posited.

Peace raised an eyebrow at this. "You remember the dreams? Interesting." Her confused expression told him that she wasn't quite following. "We have very little information about what Inducers actually _feel_ like, since most reports are unintelligible gibbering. But clearly the dreams are retainable by the conscious mind, if you're anything to go by."

"What, are you using me as a comparative element now?"

"Afraid so." Peace grinned at the displeased expression on her face. "Can't help it; you two are the first people in recorded history to survive an Inducer with your sanity intact. At least, we _think_ your sanity is intact. Are you insane?"

Kia shrugged. "I don't feel any _less_ sane than yesterday." She paused to reconsider. "Well, than four days ago I suppose. I hate losing time like that."

"I'm sure you'll make up for it." Peace reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny tablet and a stylus, slightly more serious now; clearly he wanted everything he wrote to be archived since the devices both had lit bars that meant they were connected to a server. "So, what happened? Starting from when you reached the tower."

"This feels like a police investigation."

"I'm not police, but I guess it's similar. Now tell me."

Kia adjusted her seating position and glanced over at the motionless mercenary before answering. "We arrived, Hatter explained the failsafe, and then I got a message telling us about someone in the maintenance corridor that we had to catch."

"Who sent you the message? Do you know who you were supposed to catch?"

"Figit sent us the message. We were hoping you knew who they were," Kia replied, a querying tone at the end of her sentence. Peace shook his head and she continued. "We've had messages – well, just the one – from Figit before. They gave us information via Juke, so we thought we ought to trust their intel at least and try to catch this person; we never actually saw him though, it was so dark in that corridor. Then he activated the Inducer and we were trapped, along with someone else."

He seemed very concerned at this. "Someone else was trapped with you? Did you get their name?" If a civilian had been caught then it was vital they were found immediately. Four days had already passed though, so the chances of them being salvageable were slim.

"Hatter thought that it was the same person as who used the Inducer. I wasn't so sure, but she does know what she's talking about…"

"She's been at this for years," Peace agreed, looking down and scribbling notes as he did so. "Plus, she has this weird sixth sense; we've all learnt to trust her instincts." Finding this other person was now more important than ever. They had been in possession of illegal technology which meant they were a criminal, added to that any other transgressions they might be guilty of. "Back on track though. What happened after you fell under the influence of the Inducer?"

"Dreams at first, then nightmares. It was…" Kia struggled to find the words, hands flexing as if trying to snatch them from the air. "It was like you had no choice but to cooperate, particularly if the dream was your own. Hatter even _looked_ different in hers. She looked younger."

Peace's head stayed down but his eyes flicked up at Kia's words. "She looked thirteen?" he muttered.

"How did you know?"

"Doesn't concern you." He straightened up and the darkened expression on his face disappeared in an instant. "You haven't told me the important bit though. How did you get out?" The escape wouldn't be something made public but it was important that someone know it, in case there were more Inducers available on the black market.

Kia pulled on her ear and turned away slightly, somewhat embarrassed. "I, uh… I threw us off a scraper."

"You? What?"

"It's the quickest way to wake up, right?" She seemed to be seeking some form of acknowledgement that she had been reasonable in her decision and hadn't just gone with the flow of the dreams. "Dying wakes you up. So I got us to the highest place and, well…"

Peace watched her, tapping the stylus against his cheek and resisting the urge to poke fun at Kia. "Now that you say it, that does sound like an obvious way to escape. Do you think it has to be falling or would any death work?"

"Um…" The girl blinked in confusion, clearly having expected a more displeased response. "I figure it should work any which way you die… I only chose falling because that was the most plausible option for us."

"And Hatter just went along with your plan?"

"Not exactly; I had to drag her over the edge… Does this make me a murderer?"

"Yes." Peace waited a few moments before breaking his poker face in favour of a grin, enjoying the panic on the girl's face. "But I think we can let it slide this once, for saving Hatter."

Kia looked relieved for a second, then scowled as she realised what Peace had done. "Oh, you're worse than Hatter, you are. I should've known."

"You should've," Peace agreed, getting to his feet and closing the document on his tablet. "I have things to do and people to see now, so just stay there and don't kill anyone." He grinned as Kia started looking around for something – anything – to throw in his direction. "Give us a shout if Hatter wakes up!" He hurried from the room as the girl discovered her boots lined up at the end of the bed and grabbed one, preparing to hurl it. Upon seeing that Peace had already escaped she relaxed, replacing the boot beside its counterpart neatly and sitting back.

Kia sighed as she managed to calm her mind properly for the first time since she woke; sometimes a little silence was all she needed, not the chaos that her life seemed to have been as of late. The faint image of the pseuvi chain caught her eye and the girl shifted her wrist, watching a ripple of movement run through the data. Such a device… she didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse.

"Knock knock!"

Kia turned to the closed door in confusion as the voice sounded, the American accent startling her. "What?"

"Oh come on, that's not how you answer!" whined the unknown voice from the other side. "You're supposed to ask who's there!"

"Stop with the jokes and just go in already," instructed another voice, this one also American but female. The door hissed open and the pair – neither of whom Kia recognised – entered, heading immediately to the wary civilian. The man was carrying a tray of food, plopping it down proudly on Kia's lap when they reached her.

"Good to see you awake!" He smiled, eyes shining behind glasses. Kia glanced between the two, then at the food, then back again.

"What is this?"

"It's lunch." The man frowned lightly, leaning toward his companion and whispering as though Kia couldn't hear, "I thought Peace said she _hadn't_ lost her mind?"

"Idiot," the woman scolded. "She's just confused about who we are." She smiled at Kia to calm her, adding a small wave in a sign of friendship. "Hi. We've been put on patient duty, which means we'll be taking care of you and Hatter until we're sure you're both alright. This is Graves," she indicated the man, who grinned, "and you can call me Sky."


	23. Aimlessly

"Oh. Nice to meet you." Kia observed the food on the tray: a sandwich cut into squares, a glass of juice and an apple. It was clearly the kind of meal one would give to a child but she couldn't protest, given her hunger. "Sorry, I have this thing about eating in bedrooms... Is there somewhere else I can go?"

The man, Graves, glanced at his companion before shrugging. "We can take her out to the Common, right? She's under house arrest, not been grounded."

"I guess," Sky sighed, then smiled. "If you need any help walking then feel free to ask."

"Don't worry," Kia replied, handing the tray back to Graves as she pulled back the covers and got to her feet. "I can walk just fi-" Before finishing her sentence she took a step forward and lost her footing immediately, stumbling straight onto Sky's arm which was outstretched and waiting to right her. Kia's face was sheepish as she regained her balance and the woman laughed.

"You were saying?"

Ignoring Kia's mumbling Sky led her to the door, patiently waiting for her to remember how to walk; it was only to be expected that the girl's balance needed recalibrating after she'd spent the last few days unconscious.

**_Welcome back, Skylar, AJ. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower," the woman replied, making Kia feel uncomfortable at the familiar phrase but with a speaker other than Hatter. The door opened out to a large, circular room decorated in blues and whites. Several rings of low, padded benches were scattered about the room with glass tables in the centres of some. Graves immediately made for the closest set and indicated for Kia to sit, placing the tray on the transparent surface of the table there.

"Can't really let you go any further if we don't want to drag Hatter out of bed," he grinned, indicating toward the pseuvi chain trailing behind her and through the now closed door.

"Where are we?" Kia queried, glancing around for any clues as she followed Graves's directions.

"We call it the Common," Sky replied. "It's Hollow's main property. He lives through there." She pointed to a door at least twice the size of the one they'd just used.

"Look," Graves instructed, snatching a pen and pad of sticky notes that were conveniently placed on the table – they were both dusty, suggesting someone had forgotten them there quite some time ago. He quickly sketched a sizeable square (the simple plan of a Level) and inside it a circle that didn't reach the edges (it was a bit off kilter but she got the idea). "This is the Common." He tapped the circle, then drew in two lines between the basic shapes to form a wedge on one side. He wrote 'Hollow' in the wedge before adding three corridors to the other sides and dividing up the remaining space into smaller units than the owner's. "Hollow lives in this big one, and the rest are all for guests or to store the really dangerous stuff. You're staying here," he pointed at one room on the right-hand side, "in the Infirmary. For now."

"Oh. Where are you staying?"

"Next door." He smiled warmly. "Just knock on the wall really loudly or something if you need us."

"Don't do that," Sky immediately countermanded, shaking her head at his ridiculousness. "Just use the intercom like a _normal_ person. Or, I don't know, use _Twitter_."

Kia felt like she was missing a vital piece of information that would make the woman's exasperation understandable. If the cheeky look Graves wore was any indicator, then he knew what was being implied.

"Come on, you know you love my Vines _really_."

Kia nearly choked on the juice she was drinking and had to quickly put the cup down, waving away the concerned expressions she'd evoked. Did he just say he used Vine? That program was so out of date she would have claimed it inconceivable that anyone would be using it in this day and age. Vine was only begrudgingly supported by the Tower system so why on Earth a moderator, of all people, was in the habit of Vining she couldn't comprehend. "Sorry," she apologised, "the juice just went down the wrong way, that's all."

"I have serious concerns about your safety around Hatter if you can't even drink properly," Sky confessed, and it took a second for the girl to realise that she was joking. That seemed to be a shared trait among the mods, it appeared. "How long have you been with her now?"

Kia thought about the answer, taking a small bite of her sandwich as she did so. Ugh. Ham. She _needed_ to find the kitchen and prevent this horror from happening again. She would just have to bear with it this time. "Not really sure. A week or so? Well, including those four days asleep that brings us closer to two weeks," she concluded. It had felt like longer, and she could certainly say she'd done more in that fortnight than any civilian would normally do in six months.

"How'd you meet?" Graves asked curiously, leaning forward with his eyes fixed on the girl and making her too uncomfortable to continue eating for that moment.

"You don't know?" It surprised her. Thus far none of Hatter's acquaintances had asked about the circumstances in detail, so she had assumed they were all informed prior to actually meeting.

"Nah, no one tells us anything. Foreign team and all that. Plus I think Fluke was supposed to brief us and stuff but we decided to come straight here."

Kia could feel Sky's glare without having to look at her. "You said we were told to come here first, not that you just wanted to!" She almost got to her feet but opted against, instead sighing and rolling her eyes. "See, this is what happens when you leave this idiot in charge of communications. Never again." Kia couldn't work out if this comment was more for her or Sky herself.

"Never mind that," Graves grinned, unconcerned about any problems he may have caused. "Go on. Tell us how you met."

"Well…" She glanced between them, not sure what to make of the pair. She had expected other moderators to be more… intimidating, not friendly. So was this the standard for their line of work or were these particular mods anomalous? "I was kidnapped by bounty hunters and Hatter rescued me." She saw the familiar glint of interrogation appear in both their eyes. "Before you ask, no I don't know why I was kidnapped."

"Aww. I was hoping for something dramatic, like you can conjure fire or what have you," the man pouted. "Sure you don't have a super power?"

Kia looked at him in bewilderment, then at Sky who gave a silent signal of 'humour him'. "No super power… I guess I'm good at observation, but that's about it."

"Well," he nodded, mood doing a complete 180 again, "that and sleepwalking." Kia cringed at the mention of it, which didn't go unnoticed by Graves. "Ohoho, what was that? Not keen on the idea of sleepwalking? Let me tell you, we thought you were awake the first time you did it! Someone had left the door open so you managed to make it out here to the Common and then avoided all the chairs! We had to hurry to stop you before you dragged Hatter out of bed."

"I didn't, did I? I didn't pull her around on the ground or something?" Kia was horrified by the idea.

"No, you didn't," Sky placated, sending Graves a warning look not to press it any further. Though she would normally let his teasing slide, she didn't think it wise to stress someone who'd been asleep for the past half week any more than was necessary.

As Sky and Graves began to chat meaninglessly (she was certain it was to make her less self-aware) Kia resumed eating and gazed out across the room as she did so. The colour scheme was more relaxing for her than the conversation going on so she tuned out from it instinctively, the company of her own thoughts taking its place. The Common was large but lacked any of the central columns of public elevators, making it likely that this was Level 99 and above Hollow's workshop, if she remembered the articles correctly. It would take ages to cross from one side of the room to the other, she realised, which seemed to her both a waste of space and also quite appealing in an odd way. Though the place looked designed for casual business engagements it reminded her a lot of a park, what with the soothing effect it was having on her.

A park. That had been Hatter's nightmare. A park.

Why?

When was Hatter going to wake up?

It's not the same without her.

_Wake up._

A sudden beeping noise startled her back into reality and the mods' conversation halted too as they all awkwardly looked toward Kia's wrist, for once not at the pseuvi cuff but the far more commonplace bracelet there. She lifted her wrist up to study the notification light blinking, dimly registering that she'd finished her food at some point, and sheepishly glanced at both mods' curious faces.

"I still haven't signed in…" she began, forgetting that only Hatter would have known what that meant. The blank looks she received from Sky and Graves made her realise her mistake and she tacked on, "which means Figit has sent me another message."


	24. Wait

"Figit? Who's that?" Graves queried, not getting the significance.

"A mysterious benefactor, going by Kia's reaction and the fact that she's being sent _impossible_ tweets," Sky concluded, not needing the civilian's explanation in the slightest. "What's it say?"

"Umm…" She quickly glanced at the message. "'Next time'. What does that even mean?" Talk about cryptic. She double checked the tweet to see if she'd missed anything but there was nothing more than those two words.

"Maybe–" Graves began but he got no further, interrupted by the familiar voice of Juke emanating from some unknown device he wore.

**_AJ. You have received a message from Fluke telling you to go and see him. This is a rephrasing of the original instruction._ **

"Which means Fluke's mad," Graves chuckled. "Thanks Juke. Sky, you stay here and I'll find out what he wants." Without any more ado he stood and headed for the nearest maintenance elevator, which Kia knew was at the end of the rightmost radial corridor on Grave's earlier sketch of the Level. As he walked away Sky shrugged and ignored him, preferring to keep up conversation with Kia.

"Don't worry about him," she directed, trying to detract attention from the exiting mod. "Now, this Figit. Given what happened last time you were contacted I'd bet that what was just sent was an apology – even if it's a terrible one."

"How did you know about–"

"I read Peace's notes on a connected screen as he wrote them," Sky confessed, not finding this action shameful in any way, though Kia knew many people who would consider it an unconsented invasion of privacy. In the circumstances, the girl didn't mind.

"Oh, so… an apology?"

"Yeah, kind of like 'sorry you weren't able to catch the criminal this time, but I'll help you out so you can _next time_ '. Like I said, a really terrible apology."

"Figit's not obligated to help, so I think I can accept this kind of sorry," Kia smiled after giving it some thought.

"That's nice of you. Doesn't mean you can trust this person though."

"Yes, I'm aware."

The conversation faltered, leaving them in an awkward silence. At least, Kia felt awkward – Sky was simply giving her the chance to ask whatever question she clearly wanted to. After a few moments of waiting Kia finally mustered up enough courage and initiative to pose it.

"So, uhh… Hatter's nightmare… was about a park and a boy… I was wondering if you knew anything about why?"

"I know," Sky smiled, "but I'm not telling."

Kia was startled by the refusal. "What? Why?"

The woman shrugged, giving her answer as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not my information to give. It's Hatter's. If you have to know, you should ask her."

"But she's asleep."

"Wait until she wakes up then," Sky said, rolling her eyes at the childish impatience of the civilian. "It makes sense once you think about it." She watched Kia fiddle with the hem of her shirt for a while before saying anything more. "I'll tell you one thing though. Hatter says she's over it but I'm certain she isn't. Don't be surprised if she won't educate you on her past." Even knowing the truth in her warning Sky was hoping that Kia – who was clearly concerned for someone she considered a friend – would help Hatter to let go. The girl's laid back personality and lack of negative intentions would be good for her.

"When will she wake up?" Kia wondered aloud, staring at the door to their room. Sky followed her gaze.

"Who knows…"

 

* * *

 

Hours passed. Days. Kia quickly grew accustomed to the area and found herself bored from the lack of activities. It was all very well talking to Sky, Peace and (once) Hollow when they came to keep her company, but the down time between visits was a long void of nothing-to-do. Watching television was sufficient in the mornings (oddly entertaining children's shows) and evenings (actual decent programmes) but for the main body of the day it was dreary and pointless. Sky eventually took to bringing Kia a book or two every day but the girl ate through the stories with such enthusiasm that she finished them in half the time she should have. Another great frustration for her was that she couldn't possibly enter the kitchens without moving Hatter, which meant she had to suffer boring combinations of food that she neither ordered nor wanted. Maybe this was what a pet might experience, being limited in movement whilst other people controlled everything you were exposed to with the freedom to come and go as they pleased. Nice people, sure, friendly: but not the person she wanted to see awake and, rather preferably, _well_.

Graves hadn't reappeared since she'd first met him, which caused her a good deal of concern that she couldn't voice. She wasn't sure she had the right to worry about someone she didn't really know, especially not when she didn't know the level of his abilities. Upon noticing the signs of distress, Sky quickly informed Kia that Graves was fine and that he'd just been assigned to another mission, not harmed in any way.

"Bored now," Kia muttered as she filled out another puzzle in that day's newspaper games sheet. It was weird, getting her head around the fact that she'd met the controller of this paper in person. Of all the things that could have happened to her this year, that was just one of the things she would never have imagined. Another was that she'd now spent over a _week_ freeloading in the home of the world's top weapons engineer and warfare expert. 'Surreal' didn't cover it.

"Argh! Stupid easy puzzle! You're supposed to be _difficult_."

Huffing in exasperation she cast the paper and accompanying pen aside, standing up from where she'd been sitting crossed-legged on the carpeted floor of the infirmary and stretching. A quick glance at the clock inset to the wall informed Kia that no one was going to visit her for a while. Everyone had a schedule they liked to keep to it seemed, except her. Now would be a good time to talk to Hatter.

It was a sappy gesture, but she couldn't help it. Kia felt that by sitting down and simply talking at Hatter's comatose form she was helping in some way, though there was nothing to say that that was actually the case. She pulled over her favoured chair to the bedside and sat there, taking a moment to readjust to the most comfortable state and therefore not immediately noticing the change.

Kia froze as she saw. Hatter, who hadn't moved an inch in the week she'd been awake, now had her head turned to the side rather than facing directly up. It took Kia a moment to process this information before she scrambled into action, leaping over to Hatter's bedside table and yanking the drawer out with far more force than it deserved. She snatched the book from inside and flipped it open, scanning the unassuming monitor there. This infirmary, she'd discovered, had been designed to make patients more comfortable by not reminding them that they were in a sterile ward – hence the carpet, and the readouts disguised as books. Kia discovered the latter during one of her boredom-fuelled examinations of the room when she'd stumbled upon her own readout, which she was fairly certain she wasn't supposed to have seen.

At first nothing seemed different from usual on Hatter's readings, and Kia's anticipation dropped as it seemed she'd gotten worked up over nothing. The moderator's heart rate was slightly elevated from normal (or the past week and a half's normal, anyway) but that could just be from something minor, like a temperature change. Kia had slumped back in her chair, disappointed, as she despondently turned the page to see the expected dark brain activity diagram. Only it wasn't. It was lit up red and orange like holiday lights.

" _Yes_ ," Kia exhaled, incapable of raising her voice at that moment. Eyes bright and full of excitement Kia jumped out of her chair and ran to the door. She couldn't open it by herself but she had been shown how to use the intercom in the doorframe, and she hurriedly tapped through the options to contact both Peace and Sky. As an afterthought she added Hollow to the recipients list assuming he'd want to stop whatever he was doing to check up on the moderator.

"Kia? What's wrong?" Peace's voice came through crystal clear, flawlessly carried by the Tower system. The girl had never realised simply how much she loved it and its convenience.

"It's Hatter!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking slightly at the exuberance.

"What about her?" Sky asked, aware now that something had agitated the civilian to the point that she willingly contacted them.

"She's _asleep_!"

There was a silence as they took in this information.

"Kia," Hollow said calmly, "she's been asleep for a while now."

Realising her miscommunication Kia quickly rectified her message. "I mean, she's not in a coma anymore; she's _asleep_! She's sleeping!"

"No, she isn't."

Kia's eyes widened as she turned her head to face the speaker. The speaker who was behind her. Hatter, carefully propped up on her arms, glared at her for a few seconds before the steely façade crumbled and she smirked.

"She is _awake_ , and you are _loud_."


	25. Debrief

" _Eleven days_?" Hatter exclaimed, seemingly shocked and angry at something, maybe herself for wasting so much time. "I was in a coma for _eleven days_?"

"And Kia for only four of those," Peace pointed out. "Are you getting lazy, Hatter?"

"Oh that's right, I chose to abandon consciousness so I wouldn't have to work or see _your_ stupid mug." She scowled and crossed her arms, a pose that would have looked more intimidating had she been standing and not sat on an infirmary bed with a blanket covering her legs. As it was, Kia couldn't help but giggle, attracting the mod's attention.

"Sorry," she said, trying to stop herself from laughing anymore, "it's just that you've been sleeping for ages and you're _still_ grumpy when you wake up."

"I wouldn't have ever thought to use 'grumpy' to describe myself before you, Kia. Thank you for your contribution to my life." Clearly her sarcasm hadn't suffered from the recent lack of use, and Kia only grinned more at the response. Hatter rolled her eyes and in doing so caught sight of Peace fiddling with something in his hand. "What's that?" she queried, nodding her head in the direction of the object.

"Hmm? Oh, this." He held it out on his upturned palm for her to take. "It's the Inducer we found you with." Hatter, who had already begun to reach for the device, flinched almost imperceptibly as she halted movement. Peace continued to hold his hand steady despite having noticed the cautious glances she was sending him. "It wasn't functioning by the time we found you so we think you short-circuited it when you broke the link. But I removed some of its innards, just in case."

Kia peered at it from where she was standing on the opposite side of the bed. "It's smaller than I thought it would be," she admitted, her calm attitude toward the device prompting Hatter to finally take it. The Inducer was a dark silver cube bearing an engraved circuitry pattern, no larger than 5 centimetres in any direction, and had they not experienced the effects first-hand the pair might have had difficulty believing the unassuming object could do any real harm.

"You say it was found with us?" Hatter inquired, squinting at the cube like she was trying to take it apart with only her eyes.

"Yeah, why?" Peace was alert as he recognised the look in her eyes that meant she'd figured something out.

"That didn't strike you as strange? From reports I've seen, when Inducers are taken too far from their users the link is severed abruptly and the users will go into shock and die." She frowned at the device. "Whoever we chased could have killed us easily if they took this with them. Why didn't they?"

"Maybe they didn't want us dead," Kia suggested nonchalantly. "Or maybe they were just stupid."

"I doubt that," Peace counteracted, folding his arms assuredly. "Hatter, you remember a few years ago Hollow had a break in, right? Several items and blueprints were taken and amongst them, the only remaining plans for building an Inducer. Since there's hide nor hair of Inducers on the Black Market, it's pretty safe to say the culprit has kept the information to themselves."

"Meaning it's likely the owner of this thing is also its creator," Hatter continued, filling in the blank by herself. "We're dealing with someone who is intelligent enough to construct illegal technology without alerting us; I doubt they left it behind by accident. I think they actually _wanted_ us to escape."

"Couldn't it have been left so we went crazy?" Kia posited. "There's no reason to assume we would be able to get out of the dreams – there's no previous record of people getting out so quickly – our quarry might have left it because they thought we were as good as dead anyway."

"That is more reasonable," Hatter agreed, turning the Inducer so that it caught the light differently. "But it doesn't feel right to me. It's like we're trying to solve a puzzle we don't have all the pieces to, and we're not going to get them without a lot of hard work." She gave the Inducer one last look before throwing it to Kia, who clumsily caught the unexpected present. Hatter threw off the blanket and swung her legs around to stand up, barely giving Kia time to warn her about the inevitable fall. Knees buckling, Hatter stumbled forward to the waiting safety net that was Peace. Guiding her back into sitting, the man smirked.

"Maybe we should hold off on the criminal-chasing until you can actually walk, yeah? Even Plus One is more useful than you right now."

Hatter frowned, and Kia took solace in the knowledge that her expression was one she wore when she was mad at herself, not the civilian. "Fine," Hatter conceded after giving it thought. "I'll wait a _day_ and then I'm back to work."

"Well…"

Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

Peace sighed, like he knew Hatter wasn't going to be a fan of what he had to say. "You're being side-lined. Fluke ordered you off of the Open case for a recuperation period."

"You _what_?" she hissed, Kia taking a step back instinctively.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Peace said, holding his hands up as a gesture of amity. "Fluke just thinks it's what's best for you right now. The case hasn't been abandoned entirely, and if it persists long enough you'll be put back on point, okay?"

"No, _not_ okay! I'm absolutely fine! I can get back on the case immediately!"

"Hey, I didn't want to remind you about this but Fluke hired you, and he can drop you just as easily," Peace warned. "There's no shortage of potential moderators out there."

Hatter's mouth hung open in surprise, clearly not expecting Peace to pull any threats like that. It was foundless, she knew that; Fluke wouldn't terminate their contract over something like this, and definitely not at such a crucial time. But that the threat had been pulled at all… it meant that no amount of arguing was going to get her back on the case. They were serious.

"Fine… _fine_." She threw her hands up in the air and sat back, resigned to her fate.

"If it makes you feel better, you'll still be sent into the field," Peace said, a subtle offer of truce held within the words. Hatter simply nodded, recognising that he had no part in her suspension, as it were.

"I feel like I missed something," another voice inputted. The door had opened and Sky was walking calmly from the entrance, her eyes darting between the three occupants of the room as she pieced together what had happened. "Oh, you told her," she stated, seeing the look on Peace's face. "Well, I think we could all do with a drink." Kia finally noticed that she was holding a tray carrying four mugs, which she set on the end of the bed as she dealt the beverages out. "Brown tea for Kia and Hatter, green tea for Cally… and apple spice tea for me." She grinned as she took her own drink, forcing a smile to creep onto Kia's face in turn.

"You know it's not called 'brown tea', right?"

"Course, but it's funny to watch you Brits get mad when I call it that." Sky should have known that such a simple prod wouldn't annoy the civilian. She was going to have to work harder – maybe get some tips from Hatter now that she was awake.

"Where's Hollow?" Peace asked, having noted the lack of a fifth mug that meant the genius wouldn't be joining them.

"He's looking back through the inventories, trying to compile a list of what went missing during the break in," Sky explained. "He's hoping that it will give some insight as to the kind of person that stole them, and what weapons we might be up against. Weird thing is, it looks like no _actual_ weapons were taken." She shrugged. "Well, not so far."

"No weapons?" Peace frowned. "You'd think that when someone invaded the home of a weapons developer they would pick up dangerous designs. Why else would they steal from Hollow?"

"That's what we're trying to work out," Sky reminded him. "You girls got any clues?"

"Maybe they're not interested in attacking people?" Kia shrugged, taking a quick sip of her tea; she tried to hide it, but Hatter noticed her flinch at the heat of the drink and the mod couldn't help but smirk at the frequent mistake being made once more.

"Not interested in– you sure say some weird things, Plus One," Peace replied, first in disbelief and then with a resigned tone. "Why would they steal from here if they could rob Evanz and get more useful stuff?"

"Maybe they were after something specific," Hatter speculated, "and took other things to cover it up."

"Makes sense," Sky agreed. "When Hollow's done I'll go through the list of stolen items and find candidates for the original target. If we look at the big picture, it might turn out to be part of far more deadly machinations than if it's used by itself." She adjusted her glasses and shot a reassuring smile to the now worried looking Kia.

"If that's the case, let's hope we're not too late to stop them," Hatter said. She stared down into her mug, the gentle sway of the tea that resulted from minute movements she was barely aware of obscuring the already vague reflection of her face as she pondered. She may have been taken off of the Open case but Hatter had a sense that she wouldn't have to go looking for answers right now, and that they may already be close enough to reach. No, not close enough yet, but almost there, waiting in her peripherals until they had a chance to leap out of her. For now she was missing something – a vital clue, or piece of information. Until she had that nothing would be coherent.

Hatter would solve it all. She just didn't know how long it was going take.


	26. Twenty-Six

Kia stared down at the floor in front of her, the blue carpet stretching away to cover the rest of the Common.

"Something wrong?" Hatter asked, concerned about her companion's sudden stop. There had been nothing to trigger the halt, not that the mod had seen, and yet Kia was in a peculiar kind of trance.

Sky, who was standing beside Hatter, leaned in closer to her and whispered, "She's having freedom issues," accompanying the vague explanation with a grin.

Hatter didn't have time to ask what she meant before Kia looked up with a determined expression on her face. Slowly, she lifted her leg and took a single step forward, stopping again after she had done so. There was a moment of silence, and then her face split into a wide beam. "Freedom!" she shouted, jumping on the spot. It was then that she noticed the bemused look Hatter wore. "What? I've not been able to go past that point while you were asleep. I am now officially in new territory that I haven't explored!"

"What is there to explore?" It wasn't like there was anything hidden in this room; it was open-plan, after all. "Are you going to crawl under tables or something?"

Kia pouted. "It's a _metaphor_."

"Given your habit of trying to follow through with metaphors, I think I can be forgiven for believing you'd act like a child."

"Hey!" Kia frowned and threw a weak punch at Hatter, who smirked as she caught it easily. "You're mean. Go back to sleep."

"If I did then you would be stuck again," she pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the fact that the girl had forgotten this already. Kia pouted and crossed her arms (once Hatter finally deigned to let go of her fist), turning her back on the mod and choosing to talk only to Sky.

"Where did you say we were going?" the civilian asked, making an obvious point of ignoring the mercenary. Both mods immediately began thinking of ways they could trick her into responding to Hatter and any subsequent jibes they could pull.

"Kitchen. You've been complaining about not being able to go there this whole time, so I figured you might enjoy it." She hid a smile at Hatter's reaction to this information, the rolling eyes making it obvious that Kia _would_ relish the chance to investigate the facility. The almost devious look on Kia's face, however, threw her off; she hadn't even thought the girl capable of such a dark expression.

Hatter could see Sky's confusion and found it somewhat ironic. She mused over how the woman might react when she was finally exposed to Kia's creative tendencies in the realm of food. If it could even be called 'food'. The combinations were occasionally too far even for Kia herself.

The girl's excitement seemed to make the journey shorter than it really was, and before Sky could fully comprehend what was going through her head they were there, Kia waiting impatiently outside the door and carping about how pointless it was to secure a kitchen with a high-grade security system like Juke; but that didn't change the spark of happiness she felt at hearing him greet Hatter once more. This feeling was quickly overwhelmed by excitement at the sight of the many storage spaces in the room, and she was immediately rummaging through them without care for her companions.

"She's like a kid," Sky commented, still managing to be surprised by this despite having spent the last week in her company.

"Maybe a puppy," Hatter proposed, locating the kettle and setting it. "She has the occasional bright moment and might one day be useful."

"She can't fight though," Sky grimaced, pulling out a bar stool and seating herself on it.

"Oh, tell me you didn't." Hatter gave her a look of sympathy which received a sheepish shrug in reply.

"I thought teaching her would distract from her boredom _and_ make her more useful to you in the field, but I simply couldn't keep going with it. She's _hopeless_."

"How many times did she fall over?"

"Lost count."

Hatter chuckled as she glanced at the girl in question to make sure she hadn't been listening before joining Sky at the counter and leaning on it, arms folded. "Like I said though, she has her moments. Like identifying the train terrorist as part of Open."

Sky's eyes narrowed as she recognised Hatter's manipulating tone. Did she really think she wouldn't? "No. You've just woken up and been _taken_ _off_ the case; we are not talking about this." She watched as Hatter dropped the pretence of menial conversation, glowering when it became obvious her plan was realised.

"There's nothing I can do to persuade you otherwise?"

"You know the answer to that." Really now, Hatter was only making the situation worse for herself. All she had to do was temporarily let go of the Open case, but instead she clung to it like it was her personal responsibility. "Morgan, how many times must I say it? You're part of a _team_ ; we're not here for your occasional convenience, we're here to back you up when you're not at your best and let's face it, you aren't. The Open case is in safe hands – trust me."

She knew it was a difficult thing to ask of Hatter, and the mod's body language clearly expressed her instinctive distrust of Sky's words. Well, not instinctive, she supposed, but forcefully learnt. What she wouldn't give to have met Hatter before… everything. As it was, she could only do what was best for her now.

"Just… tell me what you found out about Open's base in 3 W," Hatter requested, "and I promise to forget about it all. For now."

Sky was perplexed. Normally Hatter would never give up on her quarry so easily, and especially not one she was so invested in personally. "I've neither good nor bad news," Sky began, though she suspected Hatter had already worked this out from her conversations with Peace or Kia. "We couldn't find their hideout in the scraper, not even after several courses of scanning. Hollow suspects that they're using a Data-Lock, since that was one of the blueprints stolen. Plus, that particular tower has always had unusually low power efficiency that makes a lot more sense when you account for someone siphoning energy to run a device equivalent to an electronic shield or something."

"Did you actually bother searching for it on foot?"

"Of course. What do you take me for – an idiot? I couldn't find a visible entrance anywhere I could access."

Hatter almost hissed as she understood. "We're going to need a Royal Warrant to search for that place, aren't we?"

"Yes, _I_ am. Fluke's on it, though he can't promise it'll be quick. But he'll get that warrant eventually, and when he does I'll turn the entire scraper upside down if I have to."

The resolution in her voice made Hatter hesitate about asking her more. Maybe it really would be alright to let someone else take this case, if that someone were Sky? She stared at the woman for a good while, enough to make her uncomfortable. "Kettle's finished," Hatter said eventually, turning away to make tea. "Kia! Did you find the teabags yet?" she shouted to the girl, who had somehow managed to disappear from sight entirely.

"Mmmh!" was the muffled response, followed by an entire box of teabags being thrown across the room, straight at Sky. The mod quickly leant back and caught the box right where her head used to be.

" _Eryn save me from these fiends_ ," she muttered incredulously, before speaking up, "do you two always try and kill each other when you make tea?"

Hatter just shrugged as she relieved Sky of the box. "Kia, we need a fruit tea too!"

"Is raspberry good?" Sky couldn't work out where her voice was coming from, which was odd. Hatter stared at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, raspberry is good."

As if she'd already prepared and was just holding out for an agreement Kia sent a lone teabag flying their way, which Hatter caught by simply lifting one of the mugs up. Sky took her tea hesitantly when it was finally proffered to her; even though she knew Hatter wasn't the kind of person to play pranks she was still wary that it might explode or something ridiculous.

"Do you think Kia's realised she's talked to me again yet?" Hatter wondered as she rejoined the American at the counter.

"Maybe."

"Hmm." She took a sip of her tea. "I doubt it. She's probably more invested in her mad concoction than in a small grudge."

Sky sniffed. "If even you think she's mad then she truly must be."

"I heard that!" Kia replied, the scowl evident in her voice.

"Sounds like the mad one is on her way back," the mercenary commented in a detached tone, setting her mug down as she pondered something. "Sky? Would you tell me one last thing?"

"Depends what it is." Indulging Hatter further would probably be inadvisable, so the mod already knew she wasn't going to say anything more about Open. Hatter didn't speak for a while, the only sound being Kia's footsteps closing in on them.

"How many people died?"

"You–"

" _Tell me_."

"...twenty-six..."

Hatter's head turned away and her grip on the mug tightened to the point of breaking it. She inhaled deeply before sitting up straight and plastering a mild smirk on her face as Kia finally came back into view. Sky watched the mod carefully for a few seconds more until she decided there was nothing she could do. Not right now any way. She leant forward a little to see past Hatter and grinned at Kia.

"Back at last, huh? Took your time. I didn't think you'd be one for letting tea get cold." Sky's gaze panned down as she caught sight of the plate of food Kia was carrying. "What're you having for lunch then? A jam sandwich or some– what the _fuck is_ _that_?"


	27. It's in Our Blood

_I've heard the myths, of course. Old wives' tales of the Mist coming to life and snatching children away when they slept, never to be seen again. 'Nonsense', I think every time. The Mist is just a collection of gases with no possible hope of ever gaining enough sentience to make its way up through the Levels to steal a young girl from 72. And yet... it happened._

_I know what I saw. A figure of coalesced particles standing outside of the victim's home, watching me as I walked past. It's easy to dismiss these things when you're exhausted and don't know what's about to happen, but now I look back on it and wonder whether I could've saved the girl had I dared walk up and challenge the man. Or woman. Or thing. The vague form of it made it hard to work out its supposed gender._

" _Manz, this isn't like you," Laurence says, clearly wanting me to give up on investigating the situation behind the backs of the police. He's right; it isn't like me - which is why he should be able to understand that I wouldn't lie about seeing a kidnapper made of Mist!_

"Hatter."

The mercenary looked up from the book she was absorbed in to see who had called for her. Peace had crossed the Common to the benches they were sat on without her noticing, a feat which she attributed to the engaging book rather than his skills. He stepped over the bench opposite her and sat, folding his arms in his lap as he made himself comfortable.

"So, how're you holding up?"

Hatter watched him with suspicion, the question sounding unnatural and forced – a front to cover the real topic he wanted to discuss. "Fine. It's not like I sustained any injuries." She quickly checked the page number, subsequently shutting the book and placing it gently on the table between them. "What do you want?"

"Rude," Peace pouted. "You could have at least let me make awkward conversation for a little longer."

"I could've, but I want to get back to reading as soon as possible: so hurry up and talk."

"Alright, calm down." His eyes flickered to her companion and he lowered his voice, subtly pointing in her direction. "Are you sure she's asleep?"

Hatter followed his gaze. Kia lay on the next bench over, facing away from them as she snoozed. Hatter wasn't certain exactly when she'd drifted off, but it had been long enough for the mod to notice despite being fully absorbed in her book. "She's completely gone; look." She swung her leg up and softly kicked the girl, who moved with the push and returned to her original position afterward but didn't react to it in the slightest. "I think she wore herself out celebrating my return."

"It looks like Hollow has some very comfortable benches," Peace noted before shaking his head. "No, that's beside the point. I wanted to ask you about how you found her."

"Rescued her from bounty hunters, I told you that."

"What I mean is, did you find out _why_ she was kidnapped by hunters?" He watched her carefully as she thought about it.

"No, she didn't know why. But I bet you've come to the same conclusion as me, haven't you? She's got no connections, isn't famous, and certainly isn't capable of angering someone enough to order a hit. Which only really leaves biological anomaly."

"You're half right; that _is_ the conclusion I got to," Peace conceded. "But I changed my mind." He drew a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it, revealing a printout of chemical analyses. He placed it on the table, facing Hatter, and pointed at one set of data near the top. "When we found you with the Inducer we took some emergency medical readings to see if you were alright. This here is the relative oxygen content of the air; down 32%."

"That's about right for an enclosed space like that, in the time period we were there," Hatter noted, not yet sure what Peace was trying to make her see.

"Yeah, I know that." He moved his finger to point at another dataset. "This is you. Your blood's relative oxygen retention was up 15%."

"That's because I altered my genes. It's not perfect but it's better than nothing."

"Yes, I _know_." Peace rolled his eyes at Hatter treating him like an idiot. "Your biometrics are stored here, remember? Still, that's not the interesting part. Your retention was up 15%, but _Kia's_ ," he finger slid across to point at a table almost identical to Hatter's, "Kia's was up by _24%_."

"What?" The mod grabbed the sheet and held it closer to make sure Peace wasn't joking, though it occurred to her that he could have just changed the value before printing the analysis. "That's…"

"Only possible if she had the original mutation for the HbM phenotype, not a knock off like yours," Peace completed. "Someone in her family came from Ground Level and passed this on, till Kia wound up with it in her DNA. The real question is, how far back was it introduced and whom by?"

"She doesn't know…" Hatter commented pityingly, glancing over at their sleeping subject. "She's just a civilian with scum amongst her ancestors." Her eyes hardened as she turned back to Peace. "Have you looked through her family tree yet?" It was vital for the girl's safety that they find out exactly why someone was after her.

"I tried. But both Kia's family tree and biometrics are sealed by a private security system that even I couldn't bypass." A system Peace couldn't dismantle? That was high-quality stuff, and expensive as a result. A lot of money had gone into keeping Kia's data out of the public eye, clearly, which probably meant the culprit really, _really_ wanted her away from the moderators. Juke could protect her whilst she was inside Fluke's or Hollow's properties, but any time Hatter took her out she would be vulnerable to attack; in fact, it was a miracle they'd made it so far without any more encounters.

"So she does have connections, she just never knew about them," Hatter concluded simply. "Don't tell her."

Peace rolled his eyes. "I wasn't going to. We've no idea how she'd react to it, and I'd rather let you investigate silently without her interference than have her bothering you constantly. It's best if we get her involved in our world as little as possible; she has to go back to normal life eventually."

Hatter smiled bitterly. "Yeah, she doesn't deserve to be stuck in our wars." She set the paper on the table again, forcing herself to breathe slowly to keep calm. "It's going to be difficult to investigate with Kia around all the time," she commented.

"It's a problem and a solution within itself," Peace replied. "She'll tell you things in casual conversation that we might never be able to learn with subterfuge."

"True…" Hatter looked sideways at the prone Kia and sighed quietly before picking her book up again. "If you're done, I'd like to keep reading," she said rather pointedly, not willing to give Peace any more of her time that day.

"What book is it?" He leant forward to check the cover. "That new prequel to Lavs's series? Oh man, that ending when Manz almost–"

"Whoa, no. Go away. No spoilers," the mercenary insisted; she was enjoying this story and if it were spoilt she wouldn't be able to read it in the same way.

"Fine, fine," Peace chuckled, getting to his feet. He hadn't actually read the book yet but a chance to wind Hatter up was always too good to pass up. He plucked the analysis sheet from the table and folded it as he walked, tucking it securely into his pocket to keep it safe until he could show Sky too.

He didn't know what to make of it all, really. He felt obligated to help Kia because of Hatter's affection for her, but had he been in the mercenary's position there was no way he'd have trusted an unknown civilian enough to wait for Rage to return – he'd chase him all the way to Leeds just to get the handcuffs off. It was a comfort that Kia was utterly harmless (Sky trying to train her was the funniest thing he'd seen in months) but sometimes he wondered just how competent she really was.

Just then, for example. As he'd talked to Hatter he'd caught sight of a reflection on a nearby table's edge, showing a blurred but recognisable image of Kia's open eyes. The girl had been awake, maybe since Hatter kicked her, maybe for longer. Kia had to have known Peace wouldn't say anything if she'd been awake, or else she'd have spoken up at some point. Whatever Hatter thought, the civilian wasn't dumb. She clearly had her reasons for staying silent so Peace decided not to say anything about it.

"Whatever," he shrugged, running a hand over his hair and unknowingly making it stick up in some weird places. He turned his left palm upward and studied the Tower-supported display over it, trying to work out where Sky had gotten to, since only the hidden tracers he'd placed on Hatter and Kia were still in the Common. A smirk appeared on his face as he located the missing moderator. " _There_ you are. Time to give chase and a warning!"


	28. Executive Decisions

Cel had an issue. The situation she'd been struggling with for many a day now was utterly impossible and yet she still found herself having to consider what course of action was best. She could seek help, which meant leaving and disobeying orders briefly, or let it be and hope for the best.

How could anyone be messaging that Twitter bracelet?

No messages should have been able to get through without her approving them first, so it had come as quite a surprise when Hatter and her companion had received a tip off and started chasing Jessi into the maintenance corridors - then again, when Kia had been sat in one of the most secure places on the planet. 'Figit'. The name plagued her. Was it within calculation? Were they useless? On Open's side? She didn't know: the Boss hadn't mentioned anything about this nor had Cel ever heard even a whisper of someone called Figit during a mission before.

The agent bit her lip, focussing on the scene before her. The intercom system on this floor was a protected circuit, meaning no one could've hijacked it remotely. Adding an extra monitor, however, was an entirely different matter. It was impossible to get inside the place with Hollow's security imbued within every door, but with this method there was no need to actually enter to reach a suitable place to introduce the screen. Hence why Cel had been residing in the nearby elevator shaft, where an easily loosened panel would reveal the wiring of the intercom system for her to take apart and stitch in her own device.

The monitor she'd chosen had no camera function, so she could watch and listen to the goings on in the Common without any risk of someone seeing her face. Cel was currently observing Hatter's room, using only the audio to ascertain if they were asleep or not - the angle of the intercom in their room meant nothing showed on the screen but blank wall, either by precautionary design or simple oversight by the architect. Had anyone been listening carefully they might have picked up a hint of quiet murmuring as she counted Hatter's breathing, but Cel already knew both of the room's inhabitants had entered deep sleep. Now would be the time to make her move.

The Boss was going to know, she had no doubt of that. But finding Figit took higher priority than avoiding a scolding, so Cel quickly switched off her monitor and shifted onto her hands and feet, body low and compact as she navigated through the structural beams around her. The air suddenly grew cold as she reached the elevator shaft proper and she glanced down into the absolute darkness below her. Vibrations ran through the girders and into the agent's hand, alerting her to the fact that the carriage was currently moving but was also far enough away to not interfere with her route.

"Geronimo," Cel grinned, jumping forward and letting herself fall.

 

* * *

 

Jessi yawned. A long day's work of negotiating with other bounty hunters was a sure-fire way to tire him out, given that that kind of sweet-talking work was really not in his skillset; under normal circumstances it would've been the Boss's job, or even Hallie's, but where the commander had run off to this time he didn't know. And Open skipping a meeting… it was the dumbest thing they could do. Other groups were champing at the bit to dethrone the upstarts who'd taken over the underworld within a mere year, and whilst none of them had enough man power to topple them singlehandedly there was always the possibility someone would eventually manage to unite them all, even if only for a short time.

He stepped into the main area of the base, startled by the fact that it was completely empty and in almost total darkness save for a few emanations of dim blue light. Sure, it was late, but they had night teams who should've been on duty and manning the fort, so to speak. Where were they? Had something happened whilst he was out? Or maybe…

" _Motherfu_ –" Jessi's heart nearly jumped out of his chest as his gaze panned up and a vague figure loomed out of the darkness, eyes practically glowing as they stared at him. "For the love of all that's good, _could you not do that_?" He rolled his eyes in exasperation, recognising his ambusher as none other than Cel. She was perched within the plenum of the suspended ceiling, a single panel removed earlier so someone could do maintenance work on the base's inner wiring. "You're going to break it someday."

"Have you ever known me to break anything I didn't intend to, Jessi?" she smiled. "I have my weight spread, but if you'd prefer," she quickly drew her legs together and lowered them through the hole the missing panel usually resided in, hanging by her arms for a few moments before letting go of the flimsy braces and dropping to the floor with nary a sound, "I'll get down."

Jessi relaxed slightly. Unlike a certain someone, he had nothing to fear from Cel – in fact, he was the one who held _her_ weakness, just as Hallie held his. It was a funny little triangle of power that he was positive their Boss had deliberately constructed so that none of the executives could remove another without risking the enmity of the remaining party. "I thought you were on field assignment," he stated, the query evident in his tone.

"I am. Well, I should be." She grinned sheepishly. "I encountered something a teensy bit worrying and sort of abandoned my post to ask you to look into it."

"Must be something important if you're disobeying orders," Jessi remarked, leaning lightly on the closest desk and folding his arms. "What's up? Did Hatter work something out?"

Cel copied his movement but sat on the desk fully with her legs crossed; she wasn't nearly as heavy as he was, so posed no risk of breaking the structure. "Nope. It's about the bracelet I weaselled onto Kia. Some guy called 'Figit' has been bypassing my vetting system and sending them direct messages with compromising information – it's how they knew to follow you."

"Did it get bugged?" Jessi frowned. "If someone tampered with it then–"

"I watched it from the moment it left my tombola stand to when it reached Kia, and since then I've been aware of every one of Hatter and company's movements. At no point has anyone messed with it. Why would they? They just think it's a cheap social networking device." The agent sniffed in disdain. "I guess if you get too high in the world you start overlooking the little things."

Jessi nodded in agreement, knowing full well what it was she was actually referring to. He played with the name she had given in his mind, twisting and turning it in all directions to see if it would ring any bells, but nothing. Not even a glimmer of recognition. "The name isn't familiar, but I'll poke around and see what I can dig up."

"What're we looking for?"

The question came from the end of the row of desks they were using as seats, and Hallie's indistinct form could be made out with the light of one of the few monitors still active. Jessi guessed Cel had made everyone leave in a hurry; despite being on good terms with most people in the organisation, even she understood the necessity of absolute privacy every now and then. He quickly switched his goggles off before he looked at the commander again.

"What do you want?" the hacker asked, his face falling into a scowl. "And where, exactly, have you been all day?"

Hallie rolled her eyes at his petulance. "If it's about the meeting, I figured you could handle it. I was busy subduing a bunch of upstarts in District 15 who would've definitely caused Hatter to be sent out, and deleted someone's repeated attempts to break _your_ security and gain access to certain files that we really don't want them to find right now." She dragged a hand across her eye, an action that Jessi knew she'd picked up for the express purpose of telling them that she was not in a good mood. "So, like I was saying, what are we looking for?"

Just as the hacker was about to answer with a blunt 'none of your business' Cel cut in with a reply.

"Someone called Figit."

It wasn't hard to notice the change in Hallie's attitude – even the most unobservant of people could see the tension in her body and the look like she was either about to start shouting or run away. Neither of these potential actions happened, however, and the commander simply tried to keep herself calm and collected. "You're wasting your time then," she said after a few moments. "I've not managed to locate him even once."

"You know Figit?" Cel asked curiously, leaning forward as a physical prompt for Hallie to reveal more. Jessi, on the other hand, just continued to scowl despite his own surprise at the fact that she knew someone with advanced skill in technology that _he_ hadn't encountered.

"I know _of_ him," Hallie confessed, but still obviously cagey about what she knew. "And I know how impossible it is to reach him if he doesn't contact you first. If you want him on our side… you'd best just give up now."

"I'm less concerned about Figit working for us than I am the fact that he seems to be helping Hatter," Cel stressed, the tone of her voice beginning to hold a hint of menace as she fiddled with the pendant she always wore, causing Hallie to tense further.

"Look, you know I hate raining on our parade but there really is no hope. Leave it." She scowled once more before turning on her heel and storming off, the line of her shoulders clearly indicating to the childlike executive that Hallie was scared of something more than blackmail for once. Scared. It was not something either her or Jessi would normally think to apply to the commander, which only made the situation sink in further.

"Look into it anyway," Cel suggested, getting to her feet and tilting her head back to stare at her exit route, calculating the most efficient movement to get there.

Jessi snorted, finding her assumption that he would do what Hallie said and give up ridiculous. "Of course. Now get back to your post, agent."


	29. Standard Procedures

"So, what are we doing here?" Kia asked, swinging her legs just hard enough that they bounced off of the low wall she sat on, only for their trajectory to bring them right back to the bricks. The park was pretty busy, as parks went, which she attributed to the quaint styling of the decorations that was so different from the usual image of the capital city and more like what one would find in the outer colonies.

"It's a mission," Hatter replied, her own legs completely still simply because they actually reached the ground.

"That's not an answer." Kia pouted slightly, yet quickly let the expression drop in happiness at having a change of scene. The blue of the Common was nice and all, but seeing nothing except the same colour day in and day out (especially when she knew other people were leaving as they pleased) got tiring pretty rapidly. It was almost exactly the same as when she'd been waiting for Hatter to wake, only with less worry and more space to explore. "You just randomly launched a day trip on me the moment I got up and I'd like to know what it is we're here to do, otherwise I _will_ take this as just an opportunity to eat ice cream," she threatened, secretly hoping that Hatter wouldn't elaborate just so she had an excuse to get a treat and still maintain a moral high ground of sorts.

"Don't worry about it, I'm-" the mercenary began automatically before pausing, her eyes narrowed. "You're playing me, aren't you?"

"No."

"Yes you are."

"Am not."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "If you wanted to get ice cream so badly all you had to do was ask."

"I still want to know why we're here," Kia scowled, knowing from the smirk Hatter was wearing that there was very little chance she'd get dessert now. She might as well drop it in favour of pestering for answers.

Hatter chewed her lip in contemplation; there was no harm in explaining things if it meant no badgering from Kia. "We're here to catch this guy." She proffered her upturned palm, above which she quickly displayed an image of a crowd and zoomed in until it focussed on one man's face, his features obscured by tinted glasses and a hat covering the entirety of his hair. "We call him Cpnrlx, since that's the tag he leaves behind."

"What a mouthful. And there's not much to go on," Kia noted, concerned as to how they might recognise their quarry.

"He normally looks like that when on business," Hatter said, turning the holographic display off and folding her arms. "Cpnrlx deals in illegal goods acquisition and is due to come here in the next hour to complete a deal with Outcast."

Kia's face lit up in revelation. "Outcast? The world-famous artist who everyone knows has 'secret' connections with the underworld and bounty hunters for art theft and forgeries? That Outcast?"

Hatter blinked, slightly stunned, before smiling. "You've done your research."

"Not really 'research'," the girl shrugged. "Like I said, everyone knows. It's just that no one speaks out about it because they'll just get ignored by the police."

"It makes you wonder how none of the bounty hunters have noticed that fact yet," Hatter said, deliberately using a tone that made it obvious she knew something Kia didn't. The girl stared at her blankly as her mind raced through the possible meanings Hatter might be implying.

"You're kidding me," she said eventually. "Really? Outcast? She's one of you as well?"

"She works for Rage, yeah," the mercenary affirmed.

"So where is she?" Kia asked excitedly, eyes scanning the area in front of her but picking up no sign of the artist.

"I'm right here."

The voice came from behind them, causing Kia to nearly fall off of the wall in surprise and Hatter to snicker at this response. When the civilian had composed herself she twisted around to see an unassuming figure reading a book, sat on the bench that backed up to the wall. Outcast somehow managed to shoot the pair a quick grin without facing them. Hatter placed a hand on Kia's back and forced her to turn away and stop looking at the artist.

"Cpnrlx might be nearby, so let's try not to attract too much attention, okay?"

"Won't he be suspicious anyway? I mean, if two strangers are sitting by the person he wants to talk to."

"You make a good point," Hatter began.

"But _he_ set the location, and can hardly blame me for two girls sitting close by in a busy public area," Outcast completed.

"Just act natural and you'll be fine. Well, act natural and then keep up with me if I have to give chase," Hatter instructed.

"Or, since he's coming over here now, you should both just _shush_."

The pair hastily fell silent at Outcast's scolding, all three of them carefully listening to the footsteps of their quarry as he approached. When he came within a few metres of Outcast Hatter took a deep breath and readied herself to slip into her Desync state if necessary, though she seriously doubted it. This was, compared to what she was used to, quite a routine job.

Outcast glanced up from the book she was reading and closed it calmly, maintaining the façade of a professional criminal as she made eye contact with Cpnrlx and nudged a bag out from under the bench with her foot. "You got it?" she asked, using a casual tone that anyone might when greeting a friend.

He stopped a little distance from her, shoulders slumped and his hands shoved inside the pockets of his hoodie. The silence persisted long enough that it began to get awkward, and that was when Hatter knew. The game was up.

"Duck," she muttered. Outcast obeyed and moved out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by feet as the mercenary vaulted over her in a last ditch attempt at a surprise attack. Needless to say, she was shocked when Cpnrlx dodged the incoming punch and dropped down, sweeping his leg in an impossibly fast arc that would've sent Hatter to the ground if she hadn't jumped just in time. The unplanned manoeuvre left her hanging in mid-air for a moment, and she took this opportunity to launch another attack, a quick flick that would send her foot straight into her quarry's perfectly placed face.

As she followed through with the movement Cpnrlx shifted his weight backwards, falling into a roll and catching her attack between his ankles and twisting so that her power went diagonally instead of directly forward. Hatter swore and hastily prepared to land, heavily so.

As the shock of impact ran through her the mercenary was left stunned for a mere millisecond, but it seemed that was all that was needed for the criminal to leap up onto the back of the bench and lash out at Outcast, who had barely been able to register any of the fight so far. Despite her lack of training she was able to throw herself off of the seat before the attack could hit, grazing her elbows as she instinctively protected her hands and wrists by tucking them close to her chest. The miss didn't bother Cpnrlx, since she wasn't his target.

Hatter had just gotten back into a solid stance when she found herself freezing. Everything was moving so slowly, the mod wondered if she'd unknowingly transitioned into Desync. It didn't feel like it, but she could see the tiniest of movements in the blade that was currently held to Kia's throat, the girl's neck forcefully exposed by a hand roughly grasping her hair and pulling back her head. Hatter could see every gleam of fear in Kia's eyes as they widened in realisation at what was happening.

"Let her go," Hatter warned, measuring her breathing so that she could keep her voice level. Kia watched the mod as she lowered her fists to show that she was willing to listen to whatever Cpnrlx had to say, and the girl automatically twitched away from the knife as his grip lapsed momentarily.

"Keep still," he hissed, winding his hands tighter into her hair as she hurriedly obeyed, only taking the time to notice how unusually feminine his voice was after the weapon had been repositioned closer to her carotid artery. Kia tried to make eye contact with Hatter to silently tell her to hurry up with whatever plan she had.

Hatter didn't have a plan. She couldn't think of one. She couldn't even force herself into Desync. Part of her was accusing the criminal of using technology or drugs to inhibit her gift but the rest of her knew full well that the real root of her incapability was that it was _Kia_ who was in danger. The mercenary had brought her out into the line of fire: she knew the girl was going to get caught up in it at some point but hadn't truly faced the possibility of it _actually_ happening. Sure, she'd been trapped in the Inducer, yet the cloying effect of the dreams had rendered the mod unable to view it as honestly life-threatening. But now, there she was - in actual, physical trouble.

And Hatter didn't know what to do.


	30. Collusion

"Hatter."

What was she going to do? Attacking would only end Kia's life sooner.

" _Hatter_."

Cpnrlx hadn't even fallen for Outcast's ruse, so trickery was practically off the table.

" _Hatter_."

Give him what he came for? She doubted he wanted the forgery that much.

" _Hatter!"_

The moderator was jerked back into reality by the incessant calling of Outcast, who was still low on the ground in order to keep the wall between her and the criminal. Wide eyes gave away her fear, and Hatter felt another spike of guilt run through her as she remembered the artist's near-civilian status when it came to conflict. "What are you doing?" Outcast hissed, panicking at the lack of action being taken.

"I…" There were no words to explain quite how at loss she was.

"Shut up!" Cpnrlx barked, his weapon digging into Kia's neck just deep enough to draw a line of blood on her skin. "I know you two are conspiring something! I swear I'll kill her if I see any more funny business!"

Oh. He was panicking too. The slight tremble in his voice and its unusually high pitch gave away his terror at the situation. There was no denying this criminal had been in many fights before, but now Hatter knew he'd never experienced a hostage situation – or at least, one where he was in control of the actual hostage. Fear and the ability to kill… it was a bad combination, one Hatter dreaded.

"Alright, we got it," she called back, raising her hands as a gesture of surrender and goodwill. She still had no idea what she was going to do but maybe she could bluff long enough to figure something out. "Just let her go and you can have what you came for."

The criminal snorted, his hat shifting slightly and allowing a few strands of long hair to slip out. "As if I would take that now. It's probably been bugged or something."

Well, he wasn't wrong, but Hatter had been hoping he'd remain in the dark about that particular fact. "Okay, then… I promise not to chase you, I'll let you leave without any pursuit whatsoever." It was a long shot, but if he valued his own safety more than keeping a hostage then it might just work.

"Like I could believe that! I know who you are, Hatter; I know what you do. What's one civilian's life compared to catching a criminal?"

Kia wondered if Cpnrlx knew he was contradicting himself. If he really thought she had no worth then he would've gone after Outcast, not herself. "Hatter isn't lying…" she muttered, the response to which was a slightly deeper wound.

"What would _you_ know about it?" he spit, rather obviously displeased that she'd decided to talk without his permission. Maybe it would've been wiser to give up and stay silent, but Kia wasn't exactly famous for her intelligent decisions.

"I know her. I know that she doesn't want me hurt."

"Is that so…"

Hatter could see the pair conversing but couldn't make out any words. Maybe now was her only opportunity to go on the offensive, to catch him off-guard as the civilian kept his attention? But there was something about Kia's demeanour that made the mod hesitate, allowing her eyes to travel downward and register a brief glint in the girl's hand.

Oh, Kia was _good_.

"Please, you have my word that I'll let you go," Hatter repeated, confidence seeping back into her body and allowing her complete control over her movements again, though she chose not to act upon this. "You say you know me – then you must know that I have both honour and pride. I wouldn't go back on my deals."

"Maybe…" Cpnrlx murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. He seemed wary, but far more accepting of the proposal. "I'm going to let her go," he announced finally. "If I see any of you three moving before I'm gone I'll blow this whole park to kingdom come, got it?"

Hatter nodded, swallowing nervously as the criminal unbound his fingers from Kia's hair and slowly retracted the knife, keeping it close to himself just in case. He hurriedly left the scene, glancing around at them every few steps to ensure that they hadn't moved. When he eventually disappeared from sight Hatter rushed over to Kia, checking her injuries hastily to make sure she was all right.

"Ouch," Kia complained as Hatter wiped away the blood on her neck with her sleeve. "Look, I'm fine. Can we get on with this?"

"What happened?" Outcast asked, having pulled up the hood of her jumper to obscure her face as she headed over to them. "He just changed his mind and decided to believe Hatter's proposition?"

"I convinced him," Kia grinned, seemingly unconcerned about her recent close call. The way her eyes were darting around the area told Hatter a completely different story, however, one where the girl was still running on adrenaline and would crash at some point soon. She'd seen it in too many people not to notice the signs in Kia.

Outcast raised an eyebrow at the girl's statement. "Okay, let's say you did. I know you Hatter. There's no way you would let him go scot free."

"Which is why I didn't," Hatter replied, a minute grin somehow making its way onto her face as she fully came to terms with what had happened. "You know what this is, right?" She reached to her bandoliers and slid out one of the cylinders, holding it so that Outcast could see the rhomboid marking on the end.

"It's one of your weapons, isn't it?"

"You could say that. This particular type is a tracker."

"Hatter was explaining them to me the other day," Kia continued as the mod replaced the cylinder. "I was curious about how they worked, so I took a couple when she was asleep." She sheepishly shot an apologetic look at Hatter, who rolled her eyes. They would need to have a discussion about that but it could wait for later. "You have no idea how difficult it was to make her see that I had it without Cpnrlx noticing. Seriously, are you blind or something?"

"Shut it," Hatter scolded.

Outcast glanced between them incredulously before throwing her hands up in the air and sighing. "You people are going to be the death of me. I don't know why I signed up for this." She let her gaze wander and accidentally made eye contact with a passing mother and child, quickly looking away again. "Wow, I forgot this place was busy. I better get going before someone recognises me. See you around, Hatter." The artist made her way back to the bench and grabbed the bag she'd brought with her before exiting in the opposite direction Cpnrlx had.

"So where exactly did you put the tracker?" Hatter asked curiously, pulling up a holographic display of the scraper.

"His hood. He's down a few Levels already," Kia noted, leaning in close to see a tiny red dot amongst the blue layout structure. "Should we wait or go after him now?"

"Probably wait a little bit. It'd be nice if we could catch him with someone els–" Hatter was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

"Hey! Is the light supposed to disappear?"

The moderator brought the display up to her face at lightning speed, carelessly dragging part of it through Kia's head and making it flicker slightly as it stabilised. "What? No, _absolutely_ not. These trackers emit weak signals even when they're heavily damaged."

"Then… how?"

"I'm not sure." Her eyes narrowed as she made several connections. "But I think I can guess."

 

* * *

 

 

"You let them put a tracker on you?"

Cpnrlx shrugged, pulling off his hat and glasses only to shove them into his hoodie's pockets. Long hair, tied in a ponytail, tumbled down from where it had been coiled carefully, making it far more obvious to anyone looking down the dark alleyway that the criminal was no man, but a young woman. "Look, it was the only way I was sure I'd get out of there. There's no way Hatter was going to let me leave without a fight, not unless she thought she had a trump card. I'm sure you know how persistent she is, Hallie."

The blonde scowled, twirling the offending cylinder between her fingers absently. "You don't know the half of it, Rachel. If it weren't for our Boss's foresight, I'm certain I'd be caught by now. Though the same is true for you too."

Rachel groaned. "Oh, that's what this is about, isn't it? I should've known you weren't just passing by. I already told you that I'm not going back."

Hallie stopped playing with the tracker and cast it to the ground, unconcerned as it began rolling away from them. "We could really use you, Rachel. The organisation hasn't been the same since you left."

"Right, because you really need _me_ , and not just what I own. Spout your lies at someone who's going to believe them, Hallie. Why don't you just skip the sweet-talking and get straight to the threats? Not that I'll stick around long enough for you to follow them through." She tugged the tie from her hair and swiftly ran her fingers through it a couple of times to arrange it slightly better, before turning her back on the commander and stalking off.

Hallie watched her go in silence, piping up just before the criminal could rejoin the main street of people going about their daily business. "So you'll come back to Open if it's the Boss who asks you to?"

Rachel paused, not deigning to even look over her shoulder as she answered.

"In a _heartbeat_."


	31. Hush Hush

The metal device was cold in Kia's hand as she proffered it to Hollow, who didn't hesitate in the slightest before taking it and pulling it apart.

"So you're saying it… just stopped working?" Peace asked sceptically, leaning on a free space of the workshop's circular desk.

"I doubt it malfunctioned, if that's what you're asking," Hatter replied, folding her arms as her brow furrowed in irritation at the entire situation. "It's likely Cpnrlx – or maybe someone else – finally figured out a way to tamper with them. We ought to revise the design."

Kia twisted her Twitter bracelet anxiously around her wrist. After a brief period of panicking she and Hatter had headed to the last location the tracker had sent a signal from in the hopes of finding it, which they somehow managed to do. The cylinder had been resting at the edge of a refuse pile, haphazardly left in full view of anyone passing by. The girl couldn't help but feel responsible for letting a criminal escape; it had been her plan, a plan she thought herself clever for at the time but failed to realise Cpnrlx had already seen through it. Kia was guilty of ruining Hatter's capture mission, in more ways than one. "We questioned some of the people nearby, but no one saw anything."

"That's irritating," Peace commented. "So the only lead you have is one broken tracker. Great."

"It's not much of a lead," Hollow added suddenly, getting up from his chair and walking away from the desk to fiddle with a contraption that was mostly covered by a sheet. "The basic scan isn't showing anything, so I'll take a closer look later."

"What?" Hatter responded, clearly perplexed by the fact that Hollow hadn't yet figured out what was wrong.

"It might take a while to find the issue, so in the meantime you two can go and relax or something."

"I don't want to relax," Kia scowled. "I've done enough of that over the past few weeks!"

Hatter glanced between Hollow, Peace and Kia, a calm expression masking her concerns. If Hollow's distracted demeanour was anything to go by then he must believe there was no need to rush, so she supposed they would take his advice and do something else besides hang around and fret. "Come on Kia, let's go," she prompted, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders and turning her away. "We'll go to the library and study, okay? Call if you need us." The last instruction she directed at Peace, her head turned to face him as she pushed Kia toward the elevator.

"I don't like studying," Kia pointed out as Hatter underwent the usual exchange with Juke.

"I know," she agreed, stepping into the lift and waiting for a now nervous Kia to join her. "But I think it's time for you to read up on the underworld's systems and codes of conduct. Stuff like that."

The lift began to move and Kia's hand shot to the wall to stabilise herself, before she turned to look at Hatter with heavy scepticism. "I don't think they have 'stuff like that' at a public library."

"True," the mercenary replied, wondering how it was she still found Kia's reaction to this mode of transport hilarious. "But the library is a terminal to Pocket's archive if you have the clearance, which – oh, _hello_ – I have." She raised her hand and gave a brief wave to emphasise.

"Pocket?" the girl queried and Hatter berated herself for not checking that Kia knew what she was on about first.

"Pocket maintains the greatest archive in the world, using 3 scrapers' worth of systems and space – and always expanding. You could find anything you needed there, if you know where to look. Every invention, every historical event, every important person's life, every _unimportant_ person's life, every set of biometrics that doesn't have decent security…" She slyly glanced sideways at Kia to see if the last example had caused any reaction, but there was no sign that the girl was aware of her sealed data in the slightest. "Anyway, we access her archive quite a lot, usually to see if there's any information on criminals that we haven't come across yet. Pocket likes to keep up to date."

"Sounds convenient," Kia nodded, impressed. "How come I didn't know about it before?"

"Because it's all kept pretty much under wraps. You need clearance, remember? It isn't a civilian facility."

"Then I'll be the first normal person to use it?" Kia wondered, ignoring Hatter's protestation at being included in the 'not-normal' category. The girl's face split into a wide grin. " _Awesome_."

 

* * *

 

Peace watched the two girls as they left, and the moment the doors of the elevator slid shut he frowned at Hollow. "Why did you lie about not finding anything?"

The genius bent down to tap a readout on the contraption he was currently busying himself with, frowning as it didn't give him the result he wanted. "I thought it was best not to. At least, not yet."

"So what was actually the problem?" He didn't bother to wait for an answer, instead turning the monitor to face him. "V-8112? Again?" The programmer's frown deepened. "Years of non-existence and now two cases of it appear so close together? Someone's managed to figure out a way to control it."

"And in this case, controlling it means weaponising it," Hollow added.

Peace tilted his head in curiosity. "I still don't get why you didn't tell Hatter. This is the sort of thing she ought to look into."

"Are you doubting my judgement?" Hollow straightened up and stared down at his helper.

"Maybe."

"Well, it's nice to know you have trust in me. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm right." Hollow headed back to the desk and turned the two adjacent monitors around to face Peace, then pointed to the left one. "You already know that whenever one of the trackers activates it opens a display here. So when it cut out, I was concerned – and quite reasonably so."

Peace studied the screen carefully. It looked like a security camera feed of an ordinary street, frozen at a mere 3 seconds after the hour, going by the time in the upper left corner. "So how does this picture relate?" he asked, a basic idea of how already forming in his mind.

"It's the closest camera to the alley where Hatter found the tracker. You can just about see it in the top left." Now that he knew what to look for, Peace could discern the darkened route he'd previously missed, given its unfortunate positioning underneath the timestamp. "That camera needs replacing – it cuts out every few seconds. Maybe I would have been able to work out more."

Peace jumped slightly when the image cut to black, quickly disguising the action as a repositioning of where he sat. Hollow paused the video the exact moment the scene reappeared, and Peace could now see the figure of someone exiting the alleyway. It was a blonde girl, in her early teens. "Is that…?" He looked up at Hollow as he made the connection.

"Yes, I'm fairly certain that's the girl Hatter ran into when the railway failed. Which got me thinking." He directed Peace's attention to the other screen. "I went back through the records, and do you know what I found?"

The key signatures didn't leap out from the display for him as they did for Hollow, but Peace identified them quickly nonetheless. "How did we not see this before?" They had both combed this set of data immediately after they were alerted to the malfunction, but for some reason it seemed completely foreign to him.

"I wondered if we were provided with fake readings before so I requested them again from Pocket this time, as opposed to the main station, and I was correct. Someone didn't want us to know that they used V-8112 to take down the pseuvi."

Peace frowned as he considered the situation. "I'm having a hard time believing that this girl is clever enough to intercept our transmissions but still let herself get caught on camera. There must be someone else covering her tracks. I'd wager it's the same person who erased the footage from the BBC archives. Someone intelligent enough to evade our system's detection." Hollow made a face at him that meant there was another event he needed to take into account. "And… oh man, someone intelligent enough to _build and escape an Inducer_." He ran a hand through his hair, stress rising. "We have so many issues it's not even funny anymore."

"And all of them linking back to Open." Hollow flipped all three monitors to face the correct way again - inwards. "Which is why I can't tell Hatter yet, not until Fluke says she's clear to work their case again."

"I'll inform Sky about this," the programmer proposed. He gave Hollow a jaded grin, slipping off the desk and stretching. "On the up side, we've got four leads now: V-8112, a blonde girl, a skilled hacker, and the mysterious leader who goes by the name 'R'."

Hollow snorted at the last point. "That feels like they're mocking us," he explained, the allusion to Rage's abbreviation not going unnoticed.

"Probably are," Peace agreed. "It makes me want to crush them all that much harder."

The genius grinned, picking up the pieces of the tracker and putting them back together without even needing to look. "Same here."


	32. The Mercenary

The library was an expansive building that occupied the entirety of Level 78 with direct links to the museum above. Large metal bookcases lined the facility, stretching from the ground almost to the ceiling. Between sections of genres were open corridors with desks pushed up against the sheer backs of the cases – some with computers, some without. Hatter and Kia had situated themselves in the space between Mystery and Crime, and the mercenary had promptly pulled up Pocket's archive on one of the computers before sitting at a separate desk and putting her feet up. Three hours into studying and the civilian had slouched down in her seat, staring blankly at the screen displaying a detailed rundown of traditional rites of passage in the underworld.

"Bored," Kia complained, leaning back and pushing her feet off of the ground so that her chair balanced on the back two legs. "This is all so hard to remember!" She shifted left so her chair was using only one leg.

Hatter looked up from the book she was reading and raised an eyebrow. "It amazes me that you can't stay upright long enough to fight, but you _can_ do that."

"What, this?" Kia leant even further back, right to the point of toppling, and grinned mischievously. "Practice. Lots and lots of practice."

The mercenary snorted. "Right, because you hated school so much. Why did you even stay there for so long?"

"Didn't always hate it. I just outgrew it faster than everyone else. Same as you, I guess."

"Right..." Hatter returned her attention to her hardback, an old instalment of the Manz series that had a different cover slip over it so Kia wouldn't be able to see that she wasn't the only one slacking off. Hatter read about three words before glancing up at the girl again - or, more specifically, the sole point of contact with the ground (not including Kia's hands affixed to the desk). "What would you do if someone knocked that out from under you?"

Kia followed her gaze down before cackling. "This!" In record time she had hooked her feet around a pair of opposite chair legs and shifted all her weight completely to her hands, lifting the whole seat about half a foot off of the floor. Hatter watched in disbelief as the girl snickered in pride. "You're not the first person to consider that course of action!"

"Why on _Earth_ are you so good at pointless things?"

"Because I'm too lazy to do useful stuff." The expression she wore informed Hatter that she could stay in that evasive position for a decent length of time, but the next few seconds disagreed. Kia's grin contorted in surprise and fear as her left wrist buckled, ruining her foundation and sending her crashing to the ground. One of the chair legs bent upon impact whilst another snapped off cleanly, skittering across the smooth floor with a harsh metallic sound.

Hatter carelessly tossed her book aside as she leapt over to her companion to ensure she was alright. Kia appeared mostly unharmed but was hunched over her wrist, gingerly cradling it with her right hand. She looked up and gave a strained smile as Hatter knelt in front of her. "Well _that_ doesn't usually happen."

"Your wrist?" Hatter queried as she indicated for Kia to hold out her arm.

"Peace said I was good to go, thanks to your healing accelerants," Kia supplied, hissing in pain as the mercenary prodded at the culprit wrist around the cuff and Twitter device, both of which were interfering.

"Well he's not wrong; you haven't rebroken it or anything as serious as that, but I suspect it didn't set quite right as it healed and you might have a lot of weakness here for some time." She didn't say 'forever' but it was obvious from the way she avoided eye contact. "Do you have any painkillers left?"

Kia blinked as though the thought hadn't occurred to her, despite the intense pain she was clearly in. "Uh, yeah, hold on." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the small bag Hatter had given her the day they met, plucking two tablets out and swallowing them. Hatter's eyes narrowed at the unexpectedly full appearance of the packet but dismissed it as Kia replaced the drugs in her pocket.

"Here's hoping the librarian doesn't realise that we were the ones who broke this," Hatter commented, picking up the separated chair leg and giving it a once over before twirling it around absently.

"Haha! Gotcha this time, Hatter!"

The voice was sudden and loud, but the mercenary immediately recognised it and prepared to Desync at the same moment the nearest bookcase began falling toward them. Kia had barely turned her head around to look at the commotion by the time Hatter had taken action, jamming the chair leg between the floor and the large unit that would crush them. She kept one foot on the makeshift strut to stop it pinging out under the pressure and set her other foot securely on the floor under the edge of the case to brace herself when she caught it. From this peculiar lunging position she could see Kia leant as far forward as possible, almost unnaturally so, the bookcase resting on her back but not weighing on her too much; the brunt of the ridiculously heavy unit was pushing down on Hatter's shoulders, trying to compress her into a pancake on the floor.

"Kia," she grunted, feeling the weight slip a little, "can you move?"

"Not like this." She was distressed and probably very uncomfortable but not crushed, which was the main point.

"Shit," the mercenary cursed. She couldn't move either; the chair leg wasn't strong enough to hold such an item by itself, and yet Hatter instinctively knew that abandoning the strut completely would also not end well. She could make a dash for it and get out of the way of the bookcase in time, but not before getting Kia out, and for that she needed more strength than she possessed to lift the unit up far enough.

Hatter started in surprise as the weight on her shoulders suddenly lessened and she made eye contact with a girl in a blue tank top who had joined her under the case and was straining to lift it higher. Between the two of them they managed to bring it to a point where Kia could awkwardly shuffle out in a frantic manner, then they both dropped it simultaneously with a loud clanging noise as it finally met the floor.

"Move it," the mercenary insisted, placing a hand on both girls' backs and pushing them forward, leading them away from the destroyed site before anyone could see them and connect them to the damage. They eventually paused in the Science area of the library, Kia out of breath and needing to rest. "What was _that_?" Hatter queried, angrily glaring down at the girl who had helped.

"I'm sorry! I fucked up, I know!" She held her hands up in surrender. "I didn't know there was a civilian there! Shit. I thought it was just you."

"Seriously? You tried to crush me with a bookcase and didn't bother to check if anyone else might get caught in the crossfire?"

Kia was worried. Hatter wasn't just angry – she was furious. Sure, they had just escaped from a potentially fatal accident but that didn't explain why she was having go at someone who'd just saved them. "Calm down, Hatter. There's no need to–"

"Hey, I did check! I just didn't see her!"

"Well then take a better look before you try pulling a stunt like that again!"

"Hold it!" Kia shouted, scowling at the both of them for ignoring her. "Explain what on Earth it is you're going on about!"

"Yeah, please do," the girl added, pushing up her glasses that had slipped down in all the commotion.

Hatter sighed, passing a hand over her eyes as though exhausted. "Mez, this is Kia. She's currently under my protection. Kia, this is Mez. She's a _stupid_ kid who knocked over a whole bookcase to start a fight with me."

"Wow, how unflattering." The girl – Mez – put her hands on her hips and pouted. "You really make a girl feel special."

"Well, you _are_."

Mez chose to ignore this and turned to Kia, smiling and sticking out a hand for her to shake. "Hi there! My name's Mezola, but you can call me Mez. I'm here to defeat the Hatter on behalf of the heroic organisation, The Confessions!"

Kia looked at her blankly as they shook. "Ummm…"

"The Confessions are a bunch of vigilantes," Hatter supplied, groaning internally just at the mere thought of it. "No matter how hard we try, we just can't seem to get rid of them."

"You can't ignore justice forever, Hatter! One day we'll defeat you and make you spill every little secret your corrupt establishment has to hide." Mez leant over to Kia and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you get away unharmed."

"You'll defeat me? And just how do you think you'll be able to do that without any training?"

"Aha!" She jumped on the spot and pointed at Hatter excitedly. "Sucks to be you! I've trained and qualified as a mercenary too now, so I have every fighting technique you do! Your advantage is gone!" She proudly showed off the badge indicating her status as a professional mercenary, attached to a hairpin that she was using to hold back dark locks from her face.

"Clearly not the advantage of experience. You should know better than to do something so dangerous in a public location! Just– You know what? Never mind." Hatter adjusted her trademark hat in a fashion that Kia recognised as her calming method. "Mez, could you and your cronies hold off on attacking me for a while? Just until Kia's gone home."

Mez frowned and looked between the two of them, her eyes widening as she finally noticed the ethereal chain linking the pair. "Oh shit; what's _that_?" She bent down and tried to grab at it, fascinated by how her hand passed through it. "You guys are chained together? Man, you two are weirdos."

"Hey, we didn't choose this," Kia pointed out.

"Alright, alright. Well, I agree to your truce for now." She straightened up and grinned at Hatter. "But only if you play with me today."

Kia glanced in confusion to the mercenary, who merely shrugged before saying, "Fine."


	33. When It's Over

"You know, when Mez said 'play' I didn't exactly think she meant this." Kia – harbouring mixed feelings about the entire situation – looked out at the open Level which was covered in a sprawling collection of varying attractions and rides. Unlike other scrapers, Building Q of District 7 had several floors combined into one to make space for the city's only theme park, with the bordering few Levels forming the part of the facility without public access. Some of the roller coasters even extended outside of the main scraper, but these were encased by tubes and fully sealed so there wasn't that much of a difference between their air and that of the building proper.

"You're looking into things too deeply," Hatter stated. "Mez just likes to have fun."

They both watched the girl in question as she studied the notice board intently before grabbing a map and examining that too.

"So," Kia began as she leant on the wall of the ticket booth they were stood behind, crossing her arms and wincing slightly as she jostled her wrist in just the wrong way. "I'm really confused. I thought you didn't approve of Mez, but you seem to know a lot about her?"

"When you've spent the past three years trying to fend off someone's attacks, you get to know them pretty well," Hatter answered, joining her companion by the wall. "We developed an agreement, in a way. Either of us can instigate an attack, but if we lose we have to grant a sort of grace period wherein we won't try again. But just so you know, I've never lost against Mez before." She smirked, clearly proud of herself.

"Then you're friends?" Kia queried, even more baffled about the relationship these two shared.

"No."

"Then _what_?"

"To me, she's a nuisance. But I suspect she sees me as a kind of personal rival of hers that she has to defeat for her own sake as well as for the sake of 'all mankind', as she puts it."

"So she thinks you're a villain?"

"Something along those lines."

Kia had to stifle a giggle as Mez joined them, looking curiously between the taller girls. "What I miss?"

"Not much." Hatter straightened up and the civilian copied her example. "Are we going in then?"

"Did you get tickets?"

The mercenary sighed at the doubtful look Mez was giving her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out three strips of paper which she brandished right in front of the girl's face. "Surely you don't take me for an idiot, Mez?"

"Oh right, well…" She pulled the pair over to the entrance, a large archway looming above them as they wandered underneath and presented the passes to the staff there. Kia was sure the arch was supposed to look grand and artful, but the poor design and obvious plasticity of the structure just made her mouth turn down in distaste – a feeling which was soon rectified by the intensely sugary candyfloss that was thrown at her face by Mez. "Where d'you guys wanna go first?" the girl asked, tearing a section of the pink cloud off and shoving it in her mouth as she waited expectantly for an answer.

"Uhhhhhhhh…" Kia couldn't find an answer. She didn't know what to do – busy attractions like this weren't her forte so she'd never really bothered to take the time to come here, and as such had no clue what there was to do.

"Something basic to ease you in then," Mez filled in for her, grabbing the civilian's hand and dragging her across to a stall with a yellow and red striped canopy. Hatter followed behind, allowing the girl to take the lead. The man running the stall quickly explained how to play.

Supposedly, it was simple, Kia was told. Just pick up the gun, shoot the targets and win a prize. Maybe she would have felt more comfortable with the whole task if the gun she was provided didn't look quite so dented. It was modified, that much was clear from the sloppy trails of old glue on the casing and the fact that the sight had been sawn off, but neither of these concerned her as much as how antiquated the contraption was. She was certain she'd seen something extremely similar in a museum before, displayed as a device in use _centuries_ ago.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Hatter said, knowing what Kia's hesitation was immediately. She reached around her frozen form and grabbed the weapon, testing the weight to see if it had been rigged in any way. She caught Mez's wink out of the corner of her eye at the very moment she'd located the issue and calculated the necessary counteractions. "Watch," she instructed her charge, holding the gun up with both hands before firing, the tiny _ping_ of metal being struck by the pellet informing everyone that she'd hit the target. "Simple. Now all you have to do is hit two more."

Kia took the proffered gun and copied Hatter's pose, shutting her eyes and firing blindly at the trio of metal targets. Needless to say, she missed.

"Wow, well done. Such pro skills," Mez giggled sarcastically as she polished off her candyfloss and threw the stick in a nearby bin. "You've got to actually look at what you're trying to shoot, you know."

"Oh. Yeah. Right."

Hatter couldn't help herself from grinning, wondering just how badly Kia would do even when her eyes were open. She waited as Kia raised the gun again, trying to predict how long it would take for the stall's manager to feel in enough danger to cut Kia's stint short.

_Ping!_

The mercenary's eyes widened in surprise as she heard the sound, not quite able to process the meaning before Kia took another shot.

_Ping!_

"That's three!" Mez exclaimed excitedly, pushing Hatter out of the way in order to lean over the stall barrier to get a closer look, her eyes narrowed as she discerned which marks on the disks had been made by Kia. "Aww fuck, you're a good shot!"

"Just got lucky," Kia explained sheepishly, shying away from the over-enthusiastic pat on the back she was given.

"Well anyway, we're done here! Hatter, pick a toy!" Mez took Kia's shoulders and began driving her into the crowd of people and further into the park.

"Wha-" Hatter scowled but snatched something small off of the prize stand and headed right after the pair.

The next few hours passed in a whirlwind of colours and excited screaming of children and immature adults and, for Hatter, keeping up. Mez took them all over the park: to the carousel, to the teacups, to the haunted house, then to the carousel again just for good measure. They rode nearly every rollercoaster at least once, Mez often complaining about her regret of going on it as they left - only to take them to another taller, more intense coaster. They skipped waiting times by slyly sneaking into queues as people weren't looking, a practice Kia wasn't happy with at first but quickly learnt that she wasn't going to be able to stop her guide and just went with the flow. She couldn't prevent herself from grinning every time they made it back to solid ground and Hatter wondered how it was that she was okay with looping around on a rail yet not with travelling via maintenance lifts (according to Kia, it was because she _chose_ to experience the thrill rather than having it forced upon her by someone else).

It wasn't until evening fell that Hatter started to feel uneasy. Mez was pushing Kia around from place to place, stopping for a shorter period every time and eventually leaving a stall only moments after Hatter caught up with them. She lost sight of the small pair for a mere second and Mez had gripped the civilian tightly by her uninjured wrist, pulling her away rapidly. "Mezola, you idiot! Hold up!" the mercenary called out, noting the way Mez's head moved in response. She'd heard, but chose to ignore the warning. Cursing, Hatter began to wade through the throng of people, the mass getting denser by the second as families with young children swarmed toward the exit. It was easy to avoid bumping into people (and quickly dislocate the shoulder of an idiot who tried to pickpocket a young mother) but making progress whilst doing so was seemingly impossible.

"Come on, Kia, hurry up!" Mez encouraged, leading the resisting civilian over to the base of the gaudy Ferris wheel.

"I can't- Mez, we need to stop!" Kia insisted over and over again, but it was like Mez was deaf to every plea. Them cutting the queue once more was the least of her worries at that moment, feeling her stomach sink as she was pulled into the capsule and sealed in as it started to move.

"There, I finally got you alone," Mez grinned, plonking herself contentedly on the bench and making the whole plastic bubble sway. Kia looked through the translucent base in despair as she saw Hatter appear at the front of the line, shouting something unintelligible up at them.

"Do you realise what you've done?" she wondered worriedly.

"I got you away from that murderer for a little bit. Sit down." Mez indicated to the opposite bench, seemingly unconcerned about the imminent danger.

"Murdere- oh never mind that now! Mez, this thing here, this chain," Kia pointed frantically at the pseuvi, "it has a limit! And going up in this thing will take me _way_ out of it! Either Hatter's going to get dragged up into the air or I'm going to get dragged down!"

"Oh, um, I hope it's the first one?" Mez blinked in confusion, clearly not comprehending quite what trouble she'd caused. "Look, if it's really something to worry about then Hatter will figure something out in no time. See?" She pointed down through the spokes of the wheel to the central frame, making it easier for Kia to single out the climbing figure of Hatter. "Just calm down already."

Kia stared at her for a good while before following her earlier instruction and sitting. "So is there a reason you're risking both of our lives?"

"Well… I didn't know there was a limit on that thing," Mez admitted sheepishly. "I guess you really _didn't_ choose to put it on for fun or something. Sorry." Kia rolled her eyes in a fashion that reminded Mez very much of Hatter, who was gaining on them quickly. "Okay, we haven't got much time. I just wanted to tell you that when Hatter dumps you, you can come and join us. The Confessions, I mean."

"What?" Kia was bewildered. "Why would I do that? I'm going to go home and get back to a normal life."

Mez snorted as though she'd just been told a funny joke. "Of course you are. Is that what Hatter thinks? Does she even know you at all?"

"She's spent more time with me than you have."

"And yet she's obviously denying the reality of what she sees before her." Mez leant forward, resting her chin on her hand and keeping eye contact with the civilian. "Theme parks sure are a good way of judging people. Hatter's managing to blind herself but I can see you clearly. I can see how much you enjoy the thrill of danger, and your natural skill for stuff like that. Don't give me that shit about being 'lucky'," she warned, holding up a hand and stopping Kia from even starting her sentence. "I saw you thinking about how to adjust to the faults in that gun, even if you didn't realise you were doing it yourself."

Kia shut her mouth and sat back, keeping silent.

"So, like I said," Mez smiled, "you have a home with us when you're thrown away. Heck, you might even see Hatter from time to time! Oh, well, that is, until we bring her down and give her due punishment. Anyway, at least think about it, yeah? You won't have to hide anything from us." She looked down to check on their pursuer. "Oh shit, out of time."

Hatter wrenched the doors open and launched into the capsule. "Mez!" she shouted angrily, rounding on the girl with a furious glare but stopping as she felt a tug on her coat. She turned her head to look at Kia in confusion.

"Don't be mad, she didn't know. If anything, be mad at me. I forgot and didn't warn her." Kia smiled apologetically.

"What? You… Fine," Hatter replied after deliberating for a while. She sat next to Kia and took in a deep breath to calm herself and her racing heart. Seriously, she'd thought for a moment that Mez was intending to kill Kia or something, but now she had a chance to think it through without any danger she realised that that could never be the case – it would go against everything Mez stood for to hurt someone that badly.

The three of them waited in the capsule awkwardly, though the ever-enthusiastic vigilante girl took very little time to get over it and was soon standing, pointing at everything she could and cackling gleefully at being taller than it. Eventually they reached the ground again and they leapt out, heading for the exit; it went unspoken, but all of them knew that their day of 'playing' was over.

"Well, guess this is goodbye for now," Mez shrugged as they neared the train station.

"Yes," Hatter agreed. "We won't be seeing each other for a while now, _will we_?"

"Okay, okay, I got you!" Mez held up her hands in surrender. "I already said I'd back off, there's no need to get all stressy about it." She beamed as she turned to Kia, readying a high-five for a farewell. To her surprise – and Hatter's – Kia smirked and took a step forward, forgoing her usual habit of maintaining her personal space and launching into a hug. Mez paused in confusion for a moment before switching into hug-mode as well.

"Mez?" Kia whispered. "How can I find you after I'm freed?"

The girl fought to keep a wicked grin off her face, not wanting to alert Hatter to the nature of their conversation. " _We_ will find _you_."

They parted and Mez waved at her cordial foe again before bounding off and hurrying to sneak onto a train that was just about to leave.

"What did she say to you?" Hatter asked as she and Kia headed for their own train. Mez's whispering, whilst inaudible, had most certainly been visible to the mercenary's trained eye and she was concerned about what radical ideas her defenceless companion's head had been filled with.

"Hmm? Oh, just now?" Kia looked sideways and up at Hatter and smiled calmly, placating her. "Just that she was sorry for the thing with the Ferris wheel. She's a nice girl."

"Yeah…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends the Solid Phase...


	34. Time Flies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[ PART TWO - LIQUID PHASE ]]

Maybe it wasn't the best of times to be having such absent thoughts, but Kia wondered whether this was what it felt like to be cooked food. Her musing was put on halt for a second as a large section of ceiling fell right beside her, bringing the encompassing flames closer. She may have been part of the rescue team but Kia was sure she was either going to boil or be burnt to a crisp - she just didn't know which would kill her first.

"Move it!" the other half of the rescue team shouted, rushing to the exit with yet another civilian thrown over her shoulder. Kia adjusted her hold on the teenager she was supporting and encouraged him to move once more; not strong enough to lift people, Kia had been assigned to evacuating everyone still able to move, though most were pretty out of it thanks to the fumes roiling from the burning synthetic wood around them.

They emerged from the house and the survivor was immediately whisked away by the medical team, one of whom offered an oxygen mask. Kia used it for a moment to offset the creeping light-headedness that was bugging her after being in the flames for too long. A few metres away she could see Hatter doing the same before the mod resolutely returned to the house. Kia cast aside her own mask (much to the displeasure of the medic who seemed to think she was just another survivor) and turned to head back in, finding herself doused in water within a second. Sky barely spared her another glance as she lowered the bucket and resumed her duty of managing the crowds.

Kia could feel water evaporating from her the moment she was inside again, and one look at the house told her there wasn't much time before the structure was totally compromised. The hazy silhouette of Hatter ran by in the back room, indicating the direction of another civilian for Kia to save.

Unlike her ward, Hatter wasn't soaked from head to toe - her coat was fire retardant, which was sufficient for the brief forays into the blaze that took Kia twice as long. The mod hurtled into the next house over through a collapsed section of wall, seeking the person she knew to be the last victim. Every time she exited Hatter had kept an ear out for people screaming about loved ones they couldn't find to calculate an estimate for the number of people still trapped - since Kia was taking care of the young girl in the kitchen next door, all that remained was the grandfather somewhere upstairs.

Hatter took the steps three at a time, pausing at the top of the staircase as the world around her blurred. She'd been Desynced for too long now but still she strained against her mind's limits; losing concentration for a moment might result in her own death. As it was she used the acrid stench of her burning hair to quickly grip tight of the Desync state before it could waver again, analysing the hallway and doors to figure out which room the grandfather had taken refuge in.

She cursed. Of _course_ he'd gone for the room at the very end of the hallway. She kicked down the door and immediately found the man, heading to his slumped body and lifting. It was too late for him, she could tell, but she ought to recover his corpse now that she was here. Since his frail form was light it didn't take long for her to reach the stairs - or, at least, what remained of them. In the time it had taken for her to find the grandfather, flames had eaten away at the staircase and now swarmed at the base, leaving only one viable escape option.

Kia had to admit it was an impressive sight, seeing Hatter burst out through the first floor wall and land flawlessly even with the weight of an extra body. The mod handed him over to a medic before jogging to meet Kia.

"That's it," she stated, sparing one last glance to the burning row of houses. "I couldn't see any signs of people still left inside."

"Great. Now we can– whoa!" Kia lunged forward to catch Hatter, who had suddenly collapsed for no visible reason. "Are you okay?!" The mod's breathing was heavy and there was no sign that she was aware of what happened. Her hat had fallen to the ground, sitting forlornly as Kia fussed over its owner.

"She's just tired," Sky explained, appearing as if out of nowhere beside the pair. "Luckily there's a safe house not far from here. Come on, we'd better go before people start asking questions." She helped Kia hoist the unconscious mod up, then lifted her from the ground when it became clear she wasn't going anywhere by herself. Kia snatched the hat from the floor and held onto it tightly as she trailed after Sky, head down so no one noticed her leave.

 

* * *

 

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… uh… 'C'!" Kia adjusted herself so that she was more comfortable, though sitting upside down with her legs over the back of the sofa didn't really allow for true comfort.

"'Chair'," Hatter replied, not even needing to leave the bathroom to guess.

"Correct! Your turn!"

"No."

"Fine, I'll go again. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… 'S'!"

"'Stairs'."

"That's…" The front door opened and Kia grinned. "Wrong! It was 'Sky'!" The mod in question looked confused for a moment, then dismissed the girl's antics and shut the door behind her.

"Liar," Hatter accused, exiting the bathroom. "You can't spy Sky before she's even opened the door. Hey." She nodded in greeting to her colleague. "I guess we beat you back then."

"Clearly." Sky smiled. "Nice hair."

Hatter instinctively reached up to play with the ends, now hanging to only chin-length. "Well, you know; when your hair has been burning you don't have much of a choice in how long it is." Not that she really minded - in actual fact, she rather enjoyed how light her head felt.

"I think it looks cute," Kia said to Sky, who chuckled, though that might've had more to do with the girl's peculiar seated posture than the comment itself.

"Sure does," she agreed, causing Hatter to frown. "But I see you've changed your look too, Kia."

"Only a little." Despite precautions, her cardigan was the only item of clothing left unsinged simply because she hadn't been wearing it at the time of the fire. Katie had sent over replacements within a day of contacting her, only this time the shirt had long sleeves that Kia fiddled with almost constantly. After Hatter's trip to the hairdresser they'd also picked up a new set of boots that Kia gleefully noted made her taller than her previous pair, which she could no longer look at without smelling burning rubber. She still couldn't quite believe her shoes had _melted_.

"So was your day successful?" Hatter queried as she plonked herself down next to Kia.

"In a way." Sky switched the kettle on after receiving a stare from the upside down girl. "About a quarter of Level 87 has been cordoned off, and integrity checks are underway on the surrounding Levels. Relocation seems to have gone fine, with the obvious exception of those egotistical rich families complaining. As if it's _our_ fault." She snorted as she retrieved the teabags.

"But what about the terrorist threat?" Rumours had been circulating for the past week that something was about to go down in scraper 8 C, which was why they were there in the first place.

"Turns out it was just a big opiate run," Sky shrugged. She wasn't sure if she was glad or disappointed that that was all it was. "The fire had nothing to do with the cartel. Some kids thought it would be funny to flood the fire station with accelerants and light it up. Seems they underestimated District 8's penchant for synth-wood and the fire got way bigger than they imagined."

"That doesn't excuse their actions," Hatter scowled.

"No, but I figured I'd leave it to the police this time around. In the meantime I took out the cartel; all in a day's work and that." When their drinks were ready she handed Hatter her tea and put Kia's on the coffee table before returning for her own fruit tea. Kia shuffled awkwardly so that she ended up in the correct sitting pose, taking care not to hit Hatter on her way around. "Well, I'm going to make the reports," Sky explained as she took her tea and headed upstairs to her temporary room.

"At least that's sorted then," Hatter sighed, sipping her drink. "I guess we'll head back first thing tomorrow." She brushed her hair out of her face, briefly confused before she remembered it was shorter now. "I haven't had to Desync for an extended time in quite a while; I'd forgotten how completely _exhausted_ it makes me. You'd think the more I use it the longer I can hold it, but it doesn't work like that for some reason. My record stands at just over an hour, and that had me out for two whole days! It's a good thing we had this safe house nearby otherwise- Kia? Kia, are you…"

She waved a hand in front of the girl's face but there was no response. She hadn't even touched her tea yet, which was odd - normally Kia would be so eager to drink it she'd burn herself. Hatter rolled her eyes and prodded her ward's cheek.

"Huh? What?" Kia jumped in surprise at the rough jab, forcefully dragged back to full awareness of her surroundings.

"Kia, are you okay? You've been spacing out a lot recently." The mod was concerned. Obviously something was bothering the civilian but she had no idea what. Hopefully it was just something small, blown way out of proportion by Kia's unusual thought process.

"Oh, yeah, it's nothing. Sorry. Just thinking about… things."

Hatter's eyes narrowed at the rebuke. Then she sighed, realising Kia wasn't the type of person to spill a thing until she was ready. "Fine. If you don't mind I'm going to go and have a nap, but it nothing becomes _not_ nothing feel free to wake me. Or at least, feel free to try." She stood carefully, focussing loosely on her tea to ensure none of it was spilt as she made her way to the staircase. Hatter briefly laid a hand on the wooden banister before withdrawing it abruptly; she'd had enough of the synthetic material to last a lifetime.

Kia had already forgotten her tea again, staring at her hands as she muddled through the same thoughts in her head that had been stuck in there for a month now. What took the limelight most was something Mez had said, casting an air of unimportance upon most other things but had itself been overlooked at the time due to extenuating circumstances. Kia glanced over at Hatter's back as she ascended the staircase. Why was she still waiting? The mod was right; there was no harm in asking.

"Are you a murderer?"

The girl watched closely as Hatter paused halfway up the stairs, her breath halting as there was no immediate denial. Hatter hadn't even turned to look at her. _Come on_ , Kia willed. _All you need to say is 'no'_. Was the mod pulling her strings again, making her panic before revealing there was nothing to worry about? Surely.

Hatter's shoulders tensed as she finally deemed to twist her head around, meeting Kia's eyes with a cold stare. She uttered one quiet syllable before soundlessly retiring to her room.

That simple 'yes' prevented Kia from sleeping that night.


	35. Just Business

"And 'Azure'?" Hatter barely spared a glance at Kia as she posed the question, absently noting that though the girl's hand was still placed firmly on the lift wall to steady herself there was little fear in her demeanour now.

"High-ranking member of the criminal group Kraken; rumoured to be the next leader, or at least a candidate for the position. Taken down three years ago and killed by blunt trauma to the head upon their third escape attempt." Kia's brows furrowed slightly as she tried to recall all the information required of her.

Hatter nodded lightly. "Good."

"How about 'Oakzar'?" Sky chimed in, her foot tapping as they sped upward through the scraper and toward the Common, their home away from home.

"Consultant for the leader of the group Open Empire, Disasterwound. Oakzar was last seen four years ago; missing, presumed dead."

"You're getting better at this," Sky smiled. "It wasn't long ago that you wouldn't have gotten any of these right."

"There was a moment," Hatter smirked, reminiscing about the not-so-long ago days of her companion's utter ignorance, "when I swore that if I'd heard 'trick question?' from you one more time I would not have hesitated to blow us both up." Kia couldn't help but chuckle. The lift came to a halt at Level 98 and the doors opened.

Sky gave them a lazy salute as she waltzed out into Hollow's workshop to finish her report in person, the doors sliding shut behind her with barely a sound from the mechanism. Hatter moved forward slightly as they waited to go up one more Level, but there was no sense of urgency in the movement. Beside her, Kia checked her Twitter bracelet for any messages - though she had now signed herself in, the device still seemed to be Figit's favourite method of communication with them. It was only the occasional sentence or two, sometimes a mere word, aiding them in resolving whatever case they were on. It was peculiar how Figit always seemed to know what everyone was doing, yet never messaged even a punctuation mark to Sky or Peace.

"Nothing," Kia stated aloud as they exited on their Level, the blue carpet immediately muffling all footfall.

"Well what did you expect? It's not like Figit ever just wants a friendly conversation."

"Yeah but, who do you think they even _are_?" As ever, half her mind was focussed on simply keeping up with the mod as they tracked across the Common.

Hatter sighed. "Why do you always ask that? You know I can only say 'I don't have a clue'."

"Yeah, but it's more fun hearing you actually say that than just remembering," the girl snickered.

"You little– hold up." Hatter's hand flicked in the smallest of ways to instruct Kia to stop laughing. "Looks like we have a guest." Their pace slowed as they neared one of the glass tables, a single empty mug resting on top of it. The mod weaved around the benches and gently rested two fingers on the ceramic, noting both the warmth and their current proximity to the kitchen. If she had to guess, she'd say whomever the mug belonged to was currently in there. A grey suit jacket laid neatly on one of the seats, folded carefully to avoid creasing.

"Graves?" Kia posited, wondering if he'd failed to mention his return during one of their conversations on Twitter, an occurrence which had developed into habit over the past month.

"Doubt it," Hatter said. It had been hard enough wrangling even Graves's vague whereabouts from Peace, let alone when he would return, which likely meant he was on an extended mission of his own in London. What could possibly be so important that he couldn't help Sky with the Open case, she had no idea, but she knew better than to ask any further regarding the situation.

The kitchen door opened and Hatter immediately relaxed as she recognised the person exiting from it, carrying two new mugs of tea. She already knew that, contrary to her own reaction, Kia had become so tense she may as well have been a statue for all that she could move. "Oh good – you _are_ back! I have great timing." Evanz grinned as he drew near them.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to see you today," Hatter replied, taking the mug that he was proffering to her and kicking Kia in the leg when she failed to make any move to take hers. "Not got one for yourself?"

"As I'm sure you've worked out, I just finished my drink," Evanz explained, pointing toward the lonely mug on the table. "Besides, I'll be leaving once my business is done here. Sit?" He took a seat on one of the benches and indicated for the pair of them to assume their places opposite. The mod complied, pulling her charge with her and thanking everything that the girl wasn't gaping this time.

"So? It's not like you to actively seek me out," Hatter commented, starting on her tea whilst maintaining eye contact with Evanz all the while. In her periphery she observed that his tie was loosened, meaning he'd been here for a few hours at the least, perhaps to catch up with Peace and Hollow.

"Well I don't exactly get a lot of free time now, do I?"

"You're… you're the CEO of Merthyr Incorporated…" Kia stammered, blinking wildly as she stared at the man.

"Catch up dear." Hatter patted her on the head, shrugging as Evanz shot her an 'is she crazy?' look. He must have been briefed about Kia's situation, but she couldn't blame anyone for thinking her crazy when she was in her odd state of shock.

"Well then… I gather you have some free time at the moment?" Evanz queried, eyes helplessly flicking over to Kia at regular intervals as if concerned she was about to keel over.

"You could call it that, yes. Only until I get a new assignment from Fluke."

The businessman nodded. "Good, that means I can cut in. As I'm sure you're aware, I'm hosting the launch party for the new range of Twitter devices – the ones he had you hand back in a while ago – next week. Now, I was going with just the standard security detail but then a couple of the more illustrious persons expressed their intent to attend and I figured I'd have to improve in order to ensure their safety." The slight quirk of his head informed Hatter of exactly whom he was referring to. "Now, obviously there shouldn't be anything disastrous going on but you can never be too careful, right? Hollow already agreed to lend me one of his Bats–"

"He's showing off," the mod smirked.

"Yeah. So, if you wouldn't mind, I need you to come to the party and keep an eye on everything. I don't mind her being there as long as she behaves," Evanz said, indicating toward Kia. She seemed to have regained more than a fraction of her sanity and was even taking cautious sips of her tea. "I just want someone with their head on straight to be there."

"Then I don't see why not. I'll tell Fluke not to give me any jobs that might overrun. When did you say it was?"

"Oh, I'll have the details sent to you later. But, uhh," he gave her a once over, "it _is_ somewhat of a formal event so as much as you love it, you'll need to lose the hat… and the coat… and basically everything. You know what I mean."

"Oh man, I have to wear a dress?" Hatter looked over in mild surprise as Kia spoke, the girl's face falling.

"Well done on joining us in the land of the consciously aware, Kia," she mockingly congratulated.

"Shut it." Kia scowled and tried to focus on her tea, though Evanz's mere presence was distracting her. In terms of human resources, this one man was definitely more powerful than Rage and Hollow combined, and even had a marginally greater reach than Fluke. In a way, he was integrated into the lives of everyone living in the skyscrapers through the products of Merthyr Inc. or any number of its subsidiaries. Kia had thought she was already prepared to meet whichever of the important people that Hatter had contact with but clearly that was not the case. The suddenness of the visit hadn't helped either.

"Anyway… Since you've accepted, I'd better be off." Evanz stood, plucking his jacket off of the bench and shaking it out a few times before actually putting it on. "I've got a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in an hour and I really ought to get going."

"Don't forget about your tie," Kia pointed out. He hesitated before nodding his appreciation.

Hatter held back a grin over the whole situation. Evanz had clearly been given a very conflicted opinion of the girl that she had no doubt would perturb him for some time – though, in his defence, Kia still puzzled even her occasionally . "I'll see you in a week then," she said in farewell.

"Yeah," Evanz smiled, finally adjusting his tie. "See you."


	36. Work To Do

Managing inventory wasn't the most thrilling of jobs but it still required enough attention to make any distraction problematic. As it was, Lisa kept trying to focus on her computer screen even though she knew it was hopeless the moment she saw him coming her way. He pulled over a chair from an empty desk and set it at the end of hers, boredom evident.

"What's up?"

Lisa sighed. "Nothing more than the usual."

"Right."

Despite not looking at him directly, the movement of his legs was still noticeable in her periphery. "Get your feet off my desk, Pyro. I don't have the patience for this today."

Hands held up in surrender and mock apology, Pyro returned to his previous position. "What's this then?" he queried, prodding a medium-sized box beside Lisa's monitor. The cardboard was sealed with tape, unopened and unmarked.

"Not for us!" she whispered, ceasing typing to pull his hand away. "That's for Executive Jessi."

"Oops." Pyro pushed his chair back a pace to make it seem like he'd never touched the package. "Man, I miss the days when Cel would give us our orders. Nothing's been quite as fun lately."

"She's only been gone for two months," Lisa snorted, folding her arms as she gave up entirely on getting any more work done. There were at least a dozen other people doing the same job as her anyway; Pyro wasn't wrong about there being less field work recently, but that didn't make it a bad thing. Everyone knew the Boss was working on something big and all the rest of Open simply needed to keep things ticking over until the goal was achieved.

"Okay, look alive," Pyro warned, nodding in the direction of a figure approaching them from the management offices. Jessi adjusted his goggles as he drew near, his attention focussed solely on the both of them.

"I heard you have something for me, Lisa?" He tilted his head in expectation.

"Oh, yes." Pyro pushed the box in her direction so she could slide it further down the desk to where the hacker was standing. "It arrived this morning. Seems Boss took the liberty of ordering some items for you."

"Any instructions?" Jessi mumbled, still half asleep, as he plucked a letter opener from the next desk over and opened the box up. Lisa paused, hesitant about whether it was a delivery that ought to be exposed to the multitude of people in the room.

"The message said that Boss wants you to build something capable of storing an advanced system, and that you'd know which one."

Jessi frowned, pulling out several small, silvery bags and holding them up to the light. He glanced down at the contents of the box again, causing his frown to deepen. "There's way too much in here for that to be the only thing."

"The order was for two devices…"

Jessi made a noncommittal noise of vague agreement, placing the bags back and picking the entire package up. "Well thanks for holding on to it." What was their Boss up to, he wondered whilst heading back toward his own quarters, avoiding any collisions with people walking past even in his slightly preoccupied state. One he could understand, but two? Maybe it was foresight, or failsafe, or perhaps neither; any which way, there was something the Boss was keeping from them. Though that wasn't particularly unusual.

For the last month they'd received next to no guidance from their absent overlord and Jessi still couldn't work out whether that was a good or bad sign. On top of that, their inquiries as to the identity of 'Figit' had borne no fruit besides his somewhat unusual insistence of contacting Kia as opposed to the number of moderators around her. It might be a clue but if that were the case, both he and Cel had yet to unravel its implications and meanings.

"Took your time."

Jessi felt his eyes rolling without his permission at the sound of the commander's voice. He shifted the box to his left in order to pull his eyewear down the moment Hallie came into view; the slight delay of the reaction left his eyes with a dull ache that would dissipate in a few seconds, but it was unpleasant nonetheless. "What do you want?"

"What, I'm not allowed to just come over and have a chat?" she smirked whilst leaning on the wall by his room. "Would it make it better if we have a tea party?"

"Get on with it," Jessi sighed in exasperation. "I have a job to do and I'm not exactly sure when the deadline is, so better finish it sooner rather than later."

"Ooh, what is it?" Hallie pushed off from the wall and reached for the box, which the hacker pulled away from her prying fingers.

"Don't. This is what the Boss sent for me to make a storage device."

Hallie's eyes widened. "For the final piece?" she whispered after furtively looking around to ensure no one was privy to a conversation they shouldn't be.

"Yeah. Now if you'll excuse me," Jessi stomped to his door and quickly unlocked it with the intent of getting in and shutting it behind him before Hallie could do anything. Too slow by a margin, the commander's foot wedged itself between the sliding door and the wall and she pushed it open, choosing to now lean on the door itself to prevent it from closing.

"Calm down; at least let me do what I came here for. Cel's report came in last night but I didn't have the chance to tell you. Apparently, Hatter got stuck in a fire recently."

"I assume she survived?"

"Obviously, otherwise everything would have fallen to pieces already. The other thing is that Rage is showing signs of leaving Leeds again. You need to hold him off."

Jessi dropped the package on a desk at the opposite wall. It was supposed to be dark in there but Hallie was letting in more light than the room would normally see in half a year, her silhouette standing obnoxiously in the slice of brightness that cut cleanly through the air. "How long have I been doing that, exactly? A month and a half?"

"Yeah, I guess. Can you do it or not?"

"Sure, sure. But not for much longer; maybe a week or two."

Hallie bit her lip. "I hope we've bought enough time."

"I'd say we have, from the sound of Cel's reports," Jessi replied, sinking down into his chair and scowling as he found he couldn't even see his suspended screen with all the light in the room. "Now if there's nothing else, please leave."

His passive aggressive tone only made Hallie want to bother him more, but she knew when enough was enough. Giving a loose wave goodbye she took a step back and the door immediately hissed shut, allowing Jessi to start working on his project. It bothered Hallie just as much as it did him; despite not seeing the contents, the size of the box indicated that the Boss wanted two storage devices. The first was accounted for, but unlike Jessi, the commander had a strong suspicion she knew what the other was supposed to hold.

It was unsettling.

Hallie shook her head roughly to dispel the nausea that had begun creeping up on her at the thought of the device's purpose. There were other matters that required her attention more for right now. With Cel and the Boss gone, essentially all of their duties had fallen to her since Jessi avoided contact with the other divisions as much as was possible. It was busy work, and had she been anyone else Hallie had no doubt she would have collapsed from exhaustion already. Right now a situation was brewing that needed to be neutralised before it became a problem, but there was every chance she'd missed that window of opportunity whilst running around and fixing various other messes.

"Cel's job: Cel's division," Hallie muttered to herself and she paced through the corridors. But whom should she send? Upon entering the central hub of their base the commander felt her eyes being drawn to two extremely bored persons who likely hadn't seen a mission since this whole farce had begun. They were Cel's lackeys too – perfect. They’d be fully capable of handling the chaos unfolding at the western edge of the city. She headed straight to them.

"How can we help you?" asked the girl nervously as she stood up from her chair. A field agent stuck on management duty; it was somewhat depressing how far some in their organisation had fallen in the space of a few months.

"Pyro and Lisa?" They nodded. "You don't mind if I send you out to the Outer Wall, do you?”


	37. Frock Up

"You have _no_ idea how uncomfortable I am right now."

Kia was scowling, tugging at the skirt of her dress to adjust it and finding she only made it worse. Hatter was uneasy too, of course, but not to the same extent; she'd attended this kind of event before. The mod was content enough to just lean calmly with her back on the wall, doing her damnedest to ignore her impractical substitution for boots.

"You look fine, Kia, don't worry," Hatter reassured. "You'll get used to it eventually."

"I don't understand how people are supposed to run in these things," Kia grumbled. Her guardian raised an eyebrow.

"That'd be because you're _not_ supposed to… And hopefully we won't have to today." She looked out at the expansive room built for entertaining parties such as these, noting the presence of yet another dignitary every few metres. Most were gathered in a central area that displayed Evanz's new communicator in an elaborate exhibit but some – like the pair themselves – had drifted toward open space, or the yet-to-be-filled food tables in some cases. Hatter was keeping a sharp eye for anyone who looked out of place, just in case they had an unwanted situation on hand. The people in particular she'd been brought in to protect had not arrived yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Evanz was in the midst of the throng, chatting away politely and promoting the new device, though he barely needed to do that. He had greeted Hatter (and Kia by default) when they had first entered his halls but was immediately distracted by the staff about last minute arrangements of something or the other. The businessman glanced over at them to make sure everything was fine, thanking his good fortune that they had actually agreed to the whole dressing up thing. Part of him fully expected Hatter to just turn up as she normally looked.

"At least _your_ dress looks nice," Kia admitted, gesturing toward Hatter's purple knee-length. The mod looked down at herself in consideration, having trusted her supplier (Katie, obviously) enough to not have even examined the dress closely. A safe square neckline and a full skirt with a petticoat consisting of an amalgam of fabrics – gossamer and the like – in varying shades of purple. To the casual observer it would seem an impractical choice for one with a mission such as Hatter's, but that was only because they didn't appreciate its hidden abilities: an example of such being the pouches hidden in the skirt, holding several of the cylinders she used to fight.

"Yeah, I guess so. But yours is nice too, Kia."

Kia's faced morphed into an expression of both scepticism and derision. "Sure. The dress looks nice until I'm the one wearing it." The only comforting feature she could find was that the upper half felt similar to an ordinary shirt.

"If it makes you feel any better," Hatter pointed out, "your dress is what's known as tea-length." She had a feeling that would persuade Kia's view toward a more positive nature. She was right. The girl's mouth quirked to the side slightly as she deliberated over the dress again. Now that she thought about it, the flat grey wasn't quite so bad, and the sheer overlayer on the skirt was pretty neat too.

The mod found it amusing that all it took was one tiny word to change Kia's mind.

"Well, I guess I can never carry off something fancy, so this'll be the extent of my modelling career," the girl joked, bringing a smile to Hatter's face too.

"Do you want to walk around a bit? There's only so much we can do standing a foot from the wall."

"Okay. Where to?"

"You tell me. Who stands out to you as someone we should question?" It was a little bit of a test, one Hatter hoped she would be able to pass by now. Their tutoring couldn't have been for nothing.

"Uhmm…" Kia scanned the room, thinking carefully about whom to pick. Slightly away from the main crowd stood a pair conversing menially. As she saw them they bid farewell and one walked back toward the throng. "Him," she decided, pointing to the remaining man.

Hatter raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"He… uhhh… he kind of has this shifty look in his eyes?"

"Good enough for me. Let's go." Hatter pushed off from the wall and walked toward the man, who lifted a glass from a passing server and began drinking. She already knew he wasn't a threat but that didn't mean Kia had been wildly guessing – she'd picked up on something very specific indeed. "Remember, just casual conversation to gather an impression. No outright interrogation."

"I'm not stupid."

"Sure."

" _Oi_."

As they neared the man he tapped his index finger on his glass rhythmically, deep in thought and only aware of their presence when they were right beside him. "Oh shit. Wait – event, got to watch my language, shit. _Dammit_."

"Gosh darn mister, look at the mouth on you," Hatter jibed, immediately alerting Kia to the fact that the two of them already knew each other. Of _course_ they did. Why did this always happen when she thought she'd done well?

"Shut it, Hatter. What're you even doing here? This isn't exactly your usual hunting grounds."

"You'll figure it out later. For now I'll just introduce you to Kia – Kia, this is OKD. He works in the PR department of Merthyr Inc." She gave an elegant hand wave in his direction.

"Nice to meet you," Kia smiled, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"What is she: your protégé or something?" OKD asked the mod, an air of light disdain in his voice.

Kia's smile widened in a way that Hatter knew was aggressive and her hand tightened around the man's as they shook, to the point of pain. " _Friend_ , actually."

Hatter hid a grin at her ward's demeanour. "Surely Mez told you about her by now? She's the whole reason for this truce after all."

OKD's eyes widened as Kia finally let go. "Wait, this is her? Shit."

"Language," Kia smirked.

"Dammit. Shut up. I have to… go over there and talk to... that woman… I'll see you." He quickly scurried off to hide in the crowd, furtively glancing back over his shoulder to check that Hatter wasn't following.

"What's his problem?" Kia wondered aloud.

"You know, I'm still trying to work that one out. He always seems to run away from me when there are other people about, though not normally with such a terrible excuse."

"How does a Confessions member get into Evanz's company anyway?" It really did baffle her. "I would have thought you'd take measures to avoid that, given the whole enmity thing you've got going on."

"Yeah, well, it makes them a tad calmer to have a man on the inside, vetting the advertisements for subliminal messages or whatever it is that OKD actually does," Hatter loosely explained. "It's better for the long term." She adjusted her loose-knit beanie so that it wasn't pushing hair into her eyes. "Anyway, whom to next?"

"Can't you pick?"

"Nope. Go on."

"Then… that guy?"

Hatter followed the line of her pointing to an unremarkable looking man who was having a lively discussion with several other party-goers. The only thing that stood out about him was the tiny tattoo beneath his left ear, but that was it. Well, she could indulge Kia this once.

They began to make their way over to him with the intent of smoothly slipping into the conversation - the mod would come up with a suitable entry line once they were within earshot of the topic. However, as the pair reached the midpoint of their journey a blond man stepped confidently into their path, blocking their sight completely. The fact that it took both of them by surprise was worrying.

"Hi!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Yes, uh, hello," Hatter stumbled as she attempted to regain her composure after a momentary lapse. "I don't believe we've met before…?"

He laughed loudly, causing more than one person to look their way for a second. "No, of course not. Greetings, I'm Andrew." He took Hatter's unoffered hand and shook it anyway, almost immediately dropping it to shake Kia's too. The girl was unprepared for how vigorous the handshake was but didn't have time to acclimatise before it was over. "How are you enjoying the party? I know, I know, this isn't the kind of mission you prefer, is it, Hatter? But you've got to do what you've got to do. And Kia, you really shouldn't stay up so late at night! It's bad for your health, not to mention the lines under your eyes." He traced an arc in the area beneath his own eyes lightly.

"Wha…" She could barely form any words.

Andrew's head tilted to the right as though he were listening to something across the room or in the encompassing chatter of the guests. "Oh, what a shame. Here I thought we'd get to talk properly, but now I'm being summoned elsewhere. Until next time, Hatter." He shook her hand again. "Goodbye, Kia." He clapped his hand on her shoulder and grinned, then suddenly leant forward to whisper in her ear. When Andrew stood straight again he gave a salute and bounded off.

The pair stood dumbfounded in his wake, not entirely sure what had just transpired. "I swear, I don't know him," Kia promised as Hatter turned a suspicious glare upon her.

"Right… Mind telling me what he said then?"

"Just, like, 'take care of my sister' or something. But I don't know what he means! I don't know his sister! I don't know what he's talking about." The confusion in her eyes was clear as day, and Hatter had to accept that Kia wasn't the root of whatever interaction had taken place.

"Well if you don't know him, and I obviously don't either…" she tried to see where he had gone but failed to locate the oddly deranged man. Weird. "We'd best keep an eye on this 'Andrew' from now on."


	38. Ever Just the Same

"What do you think he was on about?" Kia wondered yet again as she dallied around the food tables which had just been laid with fancy looking hors d'oeuvres. She wasn't sure what half of them were, nor did she want to ruin the perfect display patterns, despite the fact that she was getting the first rumbles of hunger.

"I still don't know, just like the last ten times you asked me that." Hatter rolled her eyes over Kia's fixation – the mod was concerned too, of course, but there was only so many times she could give the same answer to the same question. She followed after the girl, frowning slightly as she looked down at her. "Did you get shorter?"

Kia whirled around with the darkest glare on her face that Hatter had ever seen, roughly jabbing her finger in a pointing motion to the black flats she was wearing. "You never notice the effect of heels until you don't have them," she growled as the mod did her very best not to burst out into side-splitting laughter at Kia's reaction to the observation.

"I'm sure nobody else will realise," she managed to say between spasms of laughter.

"Are you two okay?" someone asked, their voice muffled slightly by the food they'd just put in their mouth. Kia and Hatter turned to face their addressor and both sets of eyes widened in awe at the now slightly confused author. "Seriously, you want me to call someone?"

" _No_ ," Hatter squeaked before repeating herself in a more normal tone. "No. We're fine. You're… you're Lavs… It's an honour to meet you." She held out her hand, shaking almost imperceptibly, to greet her.

"You too, I guess." Clearly the critically acclaimed author didn't quite know what to make of them, so she just shook Hatter's hand and then reached for another snack.

"What's going down here then?" asked another bright voice as two more people joined them, a man and a woman. He grinned upon seeing Kia's frozen face. "Ohhh, fans! Always love a good fan. Hi, I'm Hii." He chuckled at his own joke, even though it was the same one he always made when greeting someone.

" _You're the actor who goes by the name Hii and will be playing the character of Laurence in the new BBC adaptation of Lavs's book series about the detective Manz and her best friend Laurence_ ," Kia whimpered, freezing up again immediately.

"Is she okay?" Hii muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"That's what I asked," Lavs replied, nodding her head.

"Oh, sorry," Hatter laughed, finally regaining all of her composure – tonight was going to be hard on them both, she could tell. "She'll be fine in a moment. Tends to freak out a bit when meeting new people, that's all." She held out her hand to the final woman to shake. "I'm Hatter," she informed them, immediately seeing some raised eyebrows at the name.

"Amanda," she replied with a knowing wink.

" _The actress Amanda who will be playing the character of Manz in the new BBC adaptation of Lavs' book series about the detective Manz and her best friend Laurence_."

"Seriously, do we need to call a medic?"

"No, no, I promise she's fine."

"Don't believe you," Lavs shrugged. "I would be ashamed of myself if I ever wrote a character with such a blatantly expositional purpose into one of my stories, even if it is for comedy – there's _definitely_ something wrong with her."

"I'm fine," Kia managed to say, albeit at a pitch two octaves above her usual one, which was impressive in an odd way. Hatter took her shoulders and began steering the girl away from the group, smiling pleasantly back at them.

"Sorry, I just saw my boss calling for us. It was nice talking to you."

Hii's face was scrunched up in confusion as they left. "Well that has got to be the most _interesting_ introduction I've ever been a part of."

The pair were well away from the tables by the time Kia had calmed down enough to be considered functioning normally. "You make worse excuses than OKD," Kia stated, causing Hatter to give her a sceptical look.

"You have no right to judge me after that performance you just gave," she snickered. "Besides, it may have sounded fake but I wasn't lying – Evanz was looking for us."

"How can you tell he wanted us specifically?"

"Sixth sense," she explained, to which Kia was about to make a snarky comment before remembering Peace saying something similar once before. As it was she decided to shut her mouth and just follow her guardian through the crowds of people to the host, who quickly bade farewell to the guests he was conversing with in order to speak to them privately.

"I just got word that they'll be arriving any moment now," he began, speaking quickly but as clearly as he could. "Have you identified any threats?"

"No, but that's not to say there are none. We weren't able to get much investigating done before we were waylaid by som–"

"Never mind that now." He waved away whatever the end of that sentence would have been. "Just keep a close eye and make sure they are protected no matter what. We can't afford for anything to go wrong."

"Because Rage and Hollow will kill you?" Hatter smirked. Kia shot her a confused glance that went ignored.

"Because the whole damn _world_ will kill me. Oh, they're here; excuse me." Evanz hurried off to one of the room's entrances and Hatter finally turned to the girl beside her, who had crossed her arms and begun pouting at being ignored.

"What?"

"You haven't actually told me what's going on," Kia pointed out.

"Well don't worry, it's just…" A concerning thought suddenly occurred to the mod and she clamped both hands down on Kia's shoulders firmly, staring her straight in the eye with an air of utmost severity. "Kia… don't die."

"Huh?"

"Given your track record with meeting people, is pretty reasonable to assume your heart may give out at any moment tonight, but it really won't do to have you die here."

" _Hatter_ ," she murmured in a warning tone, "who are we meeting?"

"Oh, you know, just a couple of famous people…" Her eyes darted sideways to the pair that was currently approaching them with Evanz.

"Hatter!"

Kia had barely any time to process what was going on before the mod was pulled away into a fierce hug by one of the women. As they separated the caller grinned at Hatter, her bright blue hair seemingly weightless around her head, like candyfloss. "How are you, Leni?" Hatter greeted.

"Wonderful. All the better for seeing you today." She turned to face Kia as well and the girl suddenly understood what Hatter had meant about dying. It was the _prime minister_. What on Earth was she – Kia, the ordinary commoner – doing standing in front of the _prime minister_? It couldn't be real. "This is…?" Leni queried.

"Kia. She's sort of my temporary partner."

"She's cute. Hey, come and meet Kia." She beckoned over her companion and Hatter felt a pang of sympathy for her 'temporary partner' as she finally caught sight of the demure woman.

Kia's knees felt weak. Her mouth was dry. Her ears were ringing. She was fairly sure she was stuck in a dream – maybe she'd been caught in an Inducer again? For some reason that felt more comforting to her than actually believing the reality right before her eyes. It couldn't be _her_. There was no way the world would ever allow _her_ to be standing in front of Kia. There was not blonde hair fringing a dainty face. There was not a piercing blue gaze observing her. There was absolutely _not_ anyone of importance anywhere near her, for if there were Kia's heart would give out and that was _not_ going to happen.

The internal screaming was almost audible through the silence that had fallen among the group. Leni was clearly finding this fascinating while Evanz still didn't know what to make of it – all he'd ever seen of Kia was this form of panic – and Hatter felt a mixture of laughter and legitimate concern for the girl's wellbeing roiling inside her. Looking back on it, she probably should have warned Kia about this. No, there was no 'probably'; she definitely should have. But if Kia made it through this then she would be able to survive any other surprise meeting thanks to the habituation.

"Is she alright?" The voice was quiet and courteous, but with an undercurrent of authority that Kia had never thought she would ever hear in her life. The woman turned questioning eyes on Hatter, wordlessly demanding an answer in the most civil manner.

"Just give her a moment, ma'am."

"Oh, now don't give me that," she scowled lightly, and even _that_ looked polite. "I already told you that you don't have to act like you're treading on so much ice around me."

"Sorry, Danni," Hatter chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I couldn't help but tease Kia a little."

Upon hearing the mod say her name, Kia let out a small whine of distress, which only served to tip Hatter over the breaking point and into full-blown mirth. Kia began muttering to herself and when Hatter moved closer in order to hear whatever it was the girl was saying, she was greeted with a celeritous loop of, " _It's the Queen. It's the Queen. It's the Queen._ "


	39. Salvation

It took a good half hour to calm Kia down to a level one could call 'normal' and even then she still squeaked when Danni glanced in her direction. It hadn't been long before the other guests had noticed the dignitaries and started wandering over to talk to them, some already acquainted and some looking to make valuable connections to get ahead in their professions. Hatter and Kia stayed close, but removed enough that only people watching them in particular would notice the link between the two pairs. Sometimes Evanz came over to check on them, but for the most part he flitted amongst his invitees to explain the new communicator model and make a good impression, as a host ought to do; the mere presence of the Queen and prime minister certainly left an impression too.

"Why didn't you warn me?" Kia grumbled several times, to which Hatter only replied with a shrug and an apology, not wanting her to know she'd deliberately kept it from her just to see her reaction. In all honesty, Hatter wasn't exactly sure why Leni and Danni had decided to come to this event, since it wasn't quite the standard level of sophistication usually required for either one of them to make an appearance. It would make more sense had Rage or Hollow been in attendance, but they weren't. Perhaps it was just for a bit of relaxation, if Leni's smile and lively attitude were anything to go by, but the mod suspected that it was the Queen herself who'd made the decision to come – she was glancing at Kia a bit too often for it to be a coincidence, and Hatter suspected that she was studying the girl, assessing her capability.

Best not to tell Kia that.

"See anything wrong yet?" the girl asked out of the blue, referring to Hatter's current duty of spotting threats and eliminating them before they could get anywhere near the two _very_ important persons.

"Nothing," she replied. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either. Hatter had this horrible feeling in her stomach that there was something she was missing, that something was going to go wrong, but she couldn't find anything that might be the cause of her wariness. She could only hope she worked out what it was prior to anything happening.

There was something weighing on Kia's mind as well, which meant she was paying less attention to the unspoken answer in Hatter's body language than she should have been. Ten minutes ago she had spotted Andrew, the peculiar whirlwind of a conversationalist, sitting in a chair beside a locked door on the other side of the room. She'd been watching him closely for almost all of that time, but he didn't seem to have moved in the slightest; she couldn't tell if that was really the case or if he was just staying incredibly still and the distance prevented her from noting the small adjustments he made. Was he an enemy or a friend? She didn't know but hoped it was the latter, because though logic said he was only a random person they'd met tonight her intuition was practically screaming that she took notice of him.

"Oh, here we go," Hatter warned as Leni and Danni began to move toward the glass wall, the outer edge of the scraper. The girls waited a few moments before following, Hatter resting her shoulder comfortably against the cold, transparent surface as Kia lagged behind to snatch a glass of juice from the food tables.

The crowd around the Queen had thinned a bit during the move, and the remaining few nearby were the stragglers that had yet to introduce themselves. Leni looked over her shoulder, a question in her eyes, to which Hatter replied with a thumbs up gesture to indicate all was well. Halfway through the action she faltered and turned the sign on its side, trusting her instincts. Leni frowned lightly at the motion but nodded, now wary. The mod felt safer having alerted her to the fact that something wasn't quite right and even more so when Danni motioned for them to move closer. Now she could react faster to anything that happened. And yet…

Hatter scanned the people still waiting to talk to the dignitaries, certain that whomever was making her feel uncomfortable was in their number. None of them stood out as a potential threat, however, making her doubt her near infallible sixth sense. Perhaps Kia would notice something, but the girl seemed currently preoccupied by another person in the room: and Hatter didn't blame her. That Andrew was definitely a concern, but she was sure not an immediate one since he didn't give off a hostile vibe.

She stepped a little closer to her charges to hear better as a man introduced himself as a representative of some company or the other. There was something familiar about him and it took her a good few seconds to figure out what; it was the person Kia had selected to question earlier. They'd been side-tracked and never gotten round to it, but even now Hatter couldn't sense anything off about him. He was a perfectly amiable man, smiling, shaking hands, relaxed.

Kia disagreed.

The sound of glass smashing on the floor put Hatter on high alert, knowing that Kia would never drop something breakable unless she really thought there was no time. Around them people were looking over in surprise and curiosity, with the exception of the man the mod had just been observing, who was staring at a distracted Danni and smiling.

"Go!" Kia shouted at her, an uncharacteristic force in the command as the girl rushed forward. Without thinking about it, Hatter leapt into action and shoved both Leni and Danni away from the man and to the ground.

Kia didn't even think about what she was doing as she hurtled forward, trusting Hatter to take care of the people she ought to be taking care of. She was fairly certain she managed to shout a warning at all the other partygoers to get away just before she collided with the man, casting him back several feet and into the glass pane behind him. A frozen look of shock decorated his face as he registered what had just happened, his thumb already depressing the button on the unassuming trigger he held. Desperately trying to change her trajectory and only partially succeeding due to the reckless forward momentum she had, Kia hit the outer edge of the skyscraper only a few metres away from the man just as the bomb he wore detonated.

Hatter's ears rang as she coughed a cloud of dust from her lungs, her brain finding it an unusual struggle to figure out what was going on. Where was Kia? She couldn't see the girl anywhere and her stomach sank as she saw the gaping wound in the glass wall, shards of it scattered across the floor as far as the other side of the room from the force of the explosion. Nearby two forms she vaguely recognised as Danni and Leni stirred, and a small part of her mind celebrated the fact that they were alive and she wouldn't lose her job despite it not being an appropriate time to think such a thing. The mod had just enough presence of mind to note the pseuvi chain still running from her wrist before she blacked out.

Her arms hurt. Her shoulders hurt. Her chest hurt, and if the rattling breaths she was taking were any indication, she knew exactly why. Kia strained her eyes upwards to where her fingers were hooked precariously over the lip of the room she'd been in not long previously, but as her gaze panned down she found herself incredibly glad of her blurred vision. Wind churned around her, threatening to pull her down and partially delivering on that threat as one of her flats fell, quickly followed by the other.

She couldn't see how far she was going to fall but for every second she spent hanging there Kia's hope for surviving decreased. Glass cut into her fingers, making the surface beneath them slick with blood. Her breathing was shallow, her mind dizzy. Where was Hatter? She wasn't strong enough to pull herself up to safety. If the mod didn't come to help her… Kia felt sick just thinking about it.

Time eluded her as her life slipped closer to falling. She could have been there for an hour, or merely seconds, but there was no way of telling. But when a set of hands reaching down for her suddenly appeared in her narrow field of vision, Kia gave it no thought before she latched on to them, entrusting everything she had to Hatter. Her joints strained and her ribs screamed as she was slowly hauled upwards, the shattered glass ruining her dress as she was dragged onto the floor and into a safe location. The hands finally let go and their owner collapsed beside her, dazed from the blast and the task of supporting the weight of grown human being, even if that human wasn't quite full sized. Finding herself unable to even prop herself up, Kia lay her head on its side to smile at Hatter, only to find a different, vaguely familiar face staring back at her.

The girl's relief at being alive was ruined by the wracking cough that stormed through her upper body, the acrid taste of metal filling her mouth before she had the propensity to spit the blood out. As her consciousness began to fade her brain finally supplied her with the name of her saviour and she gave him a weak smile of gratitude.

"Thank you, OKD," she muttered.

Darkness.


	40. Realisation

Hatter's head was pounding as she regained consciousness, throwing an arm across her face to block the light from her eyes as they adjusted. Once they had she opened them groggily to assess the situation. In stark contrast to the devastation she remembered, the mod found herself once again in the infirmary of the Common and she groaned as she realised this. In the chair beside her bed sat Peace, waiting patiently for her to come to her senses. Something about this seemed very familiar but she couldn't quite place what.

"You good?" Peace queried, leaning forward slightly.

"Define 'good'," she mumbled, which was the best answer he was going to get out of her. She turned her head to face the other direction and, sure enough, saw Kia on the other bed. Somewhat unusually, the girl was propped up against the wall so that she was upright whilst she slept, but it was the oxygen mask hiding half of her face that set alarm bells ringing in Hatter's brain.

"Cuts, burns, bruises: a handful of fractured ribs… I was told to say 'haemopneumothorax' and 'pulmonary contusion', whatever those mean," Peace said, knowing exactly what she was thinking. As a look of panic crossed Hatter's face he quickly amended with, "Mild, for both. I should've opened with that…" Regretting his mistake for a moment, and then abandoning the feeling when the mod visibly calmed, he continued. "She's sedated, of course." He neglected to mention the fact that Kia had been on the operating table only hours ago as Curaxu righted her internals (muttering all the while about how lucky it was that she'd been just outside the fatal blast radius), but suspected Hatter had already worked that out from what he'd said.

"What about everyone else?" the mod queried. Kia may have been fine - in a loose sense of the word - but how many more people would she need to add to her count?

"No fatalities, thanks to someone shouting at them to get away, apparently." Peace pretended not to notice Hatter's sigh of relief. "Obviously, Danni was whisked away by those weird secret service guys, but Leni is recuperating here with Hollow. And I've no idea how, but Evanz made it out without a scratch on him." Peace frowned lightly, more out of confusion than annoyance. "As for yourself, also cuts, also burns, and a good old fashioned concussion."

Hatter began to laugh, causing Peace to stare at her like she was a crazy person. "Sorry," she managed to say after seeing his expression. "It just occurred to me that this is almost exactly the same as waking up from the Inducer. How long have I been out?"

He hesitated before replying, unsure as to why the similarity in situation was so funny to her. "Just around a day, so don't worry about having lost too much time."

Hatter attempted to nod her understanding but decided against the motion when it made her vision go all wonky, instead reaching for the glass of water she knew would be on her bedside table. Slowly, observing full care not to upset her head at all, she sat up, taking a sip of the cool fluid and bringing relief to her dry throat. "What about the bomber?" she asked eventually.

"We recovered the body. Well, what could actually be recovered," he admitted. "He died from the blast rather than the fall, so we haven't had much luck identifying him beneath all the burns and the pancake impression. Curaxu is matching dentals now." He adjusted his sitting position so he was more comfortable. "All we know is that he was part of a terrorist group that disbanded over a decade back. It's a good thing you spotted him in time and had Kia take him down, else we'd be in a whole mountain of trouble right now."

"It wasn't me."

"Pardon?"

"I didn't know there was anything wrong about him at all," Hatter expanded, staring at the glass she held and hearing a ghosting echo of Kia's smashing on the floor. "I had absolutely no clue. He didn't even feel remotely harmful. But Kia," she glanced over at her, "she knew. Somehow. She suspected him the moment she laid eyes him."

Peace sat in silence for a while, not entirely sure what to make of this information. Even Hatter's extraordinary instincts had failed her this time, and the only reason there hadn't been more deaths was thanks to one rather weak looking girl acting without even thinking about it properly. He'd been around Kia enough to notice her unusual skill in observation but it had never occurred to him that it might be as good as – possibly better – than Hatter's sixth sense. She was certainly more than the average civilian, but he still couldn't decide if that was suspicious or coincidence. Her reflexive actions to save lives finally had him leaning toward coincidence.

"Which terrorist group?" Hatter asked again, Peace having been too wrapped up in his thoughts to hear her the first time.

"TTG," he stated. "And we only know that thanks to his–"

"Tattoo," Hatter finished, closing her eyes and slumping against the headboard. "She saw the tattoo." There was an odd sense of relief that this mystery had been solved, and she thanked everything that she'd made Kia study the signs and customs of even the oldest organisations on record. "Is this something we need to worry about?" she asked.

"Not you two. Once he's done identifying the man, Curaxu and Someguy will be eradicating TTG for good. Worldwide purge."

"How did he even get in?" Evanz's security team wasn't anything to laugh at and could even be described as formidable, so how the bomber had gotten past them was of great interest to the mod.

"We aren't sure yet, but you can bet someone is getting fired."

The lack of smells in the sterile air was beginning to put Hatter off her water, so she gently set it aside still half full. "What was the public reaction to this?" With the number of civilians attending the launch party there was no way the event could have been kept completely under wraps.

"Fluke's handling it: downplaying everything. But the nation is on high alert so the number of people reporting suspicious activity has rocketed in the past few hours." Peace rubbed his eyes and Hatter considered just how tired he must be after dealing with it all. Reports like that, with Rage out of town, all filtered through Hollow's operations after the police had examined them, meaning Peace had probably trawled through enough false leads to last a lifetime. "In other news," he said eventually, clapping his hands together for emphasis and forcefully injecting cheer into his voice, "Fluke said that once you two are healed up you'll be put back onto the Open case."

Now that definitely had her attention. Hatter's sat up straight again and narrowed her eyes at Peace, scanning his face for any hint that he was just messing around with her. There was none. "Really?"

"Yes. It seems Evanz was left with a pretty decent impression of Kia after she saved everybody's lives and practically forced Fluke to change his mind about letting her 'get in the way of things'."

Hatter had suspected as much, that Fluke had taken her off the case not entirely for her own wellbeing but to buy time until Kia was gone. She didn't blame her, of course, and had tried not to think about it. "Peace," she began, studying the slightly downcast expression on the unconscious girl's face, "have you got her on painkillers?"

"Of course we have. Why?"

"Give her more."

Peace frowned. "I'm not sure what you intend by that. Are you trying to kill her or something?"

Hatter snorted. "Just give her more. She'll need it when she wakes up." The querying look on his face told her that he definitely wouldn't be following her advice without a reason. She sighed. "When we met Kia hurt herself pretty badly, so I gave her a pack of painkillers. She’s barely used it, and not because she wasn't actually injured." She recalled the day at the library when Kia's wrist had failed to support her the way she thought it would. "I think they don't work on her."

"Drug resistance?" Peace asked incredulously, finally catching on to what she was saying. "You think she didn't use them because they'd have no effect?"

The mod nodded. "If that's the case - and I really think it is - I can't imagine what her pain tolerance is like. Even so, I'd rather she didn't have to feel every one of her broken ribs."

"I'll make sure her dose is adjusted for when she's awake. There's no way she's feeling anything right now."

Hatter raised an eyebrow at this assumption. "If she _is_ drug resistant, what makes you think she won't wake up in the next few minutes? For all we know, she's only sleeping because she's tired and not because of the sedatives."

"They must be having some effect…" The expression Hatter wore made him rethink his decision and Peace stood, ready to have a word with Sky about changing Kia's prescription. "I'll just go and sort that out. Are you alright here?"

"Well I'm not going to go anywhere, if that's what you're asking." Sitting up was a task in itself thanks to her aching head, and she doubted she would be getting up for a while. A few more hours of full rest would go a long way to making her feel more like herself again. Peace nodded his understanding and left the room as the mod settled into a more comfortable, lying down position. She watched Kia sleeping peacefully for a few seconds before turning onto her other side and shutting her eyes. Hatter wondered which one of them would wake up first.


	41. About Time

There was always something about the air that alerted Peace to the incoming storm, so to speak. It was like each atom was charged, waiting for things to kick off and for chaos to whip everything into a frenzy. As a result, Peace always had a few minutes to compose himself, which he tactfully did whilst waiting for that man to cross the Common – Rage.

He didn't look much different from when they'd last met, his glasses somewhat askew and wearing his trademark red and black coordination. Rage was hurrying across the room, his attempts at hiding his unsubtle out-of-breath state failing miserably, as per usual. "Peace," he greeted simply, pausing in front of the programmer and glancing around for signs of anyone else. "Tell me what on Earth is going on; those bastards at the Palace won't even let me know if she's safe!" His hurried speech was accompanied by wild gesticulating that made Peace take a precautionary step back to avoid being hit.

"I've not been told anything either," Rage scowled at that, "but I was about to check in with Hollow and Leni, if you'd like to join me?" There wasn't much point to the niceties other than to calm him down, but it seemed it'd had at least a small effect as Rage stopped shifting his weight from side to side – oddly enough, it had been making Peace slightly motion sick.

"Let's go then," Rage grumbled, the programmer gladly obliging.

"If it's any comfort," Peace said as they wove through the clusters of tables and benches that obstructed their path, "Danni was further from the blast than Kia, and Kia's _basically_ fine."

The look of confusion Rage shot him threw Peace and he almost tripped over a bench. "Who?"

"You know – Kia? Short, harmless, makes unspeakable things with sandwiches?"

"Again," he repeated, somewhat irritated now, "who?"

"Oh man, you're completely out of the loop aren't you?" Peace sighed and ran a hand through his hair trying to think of how to explain it in the simplest way possible. "Hatter picked up a stray two months ago, and now Kia's just sort of… there." He waved his hands a bit to indicate 'everywhere'. "Well, you'd know all of this if you hadn't stayed out of London for so long."

"It wasn't exactly my fault," he pouted. "Every time I was about to leave, something else came up so I had to stay."

"I assume none of those things was a decent haircut." Peace eyed the unusual and varied length of hair atop Rage's head with scepticism.

"Shut up," he grumbled. "Alex wanted to help cut it."

"He's better then?"

"Yeah." Rage's face contorted into a unique expression of conflicting emotions and, though under any other circumstances Peace wouldn't have been concerned, present situations made it more than a little worrisome.

Before Peace had the chance to ask about it, they had reached the entrance to Hollow's personal area of the floor. A pair of large, wooden doors barred their way; unlike the other doors on the Level, which would slide open with a quiet _hiss_ , this set would swing inward once visitors had been cleared by Juke, as always.

**_Welcome back, Rage, Peace. How are you?_ **

"Good," they replied simultaneously. Not that either of them felt particularly good, but because the CI would not accept another answer if they wanted to be admitted. Where Hollow's odd not-quite-password system had once baffled them all, now it was just habit. 'Good' meant things were well, 'fine' meant things were _not_ well and would instigate an alert, and 'under the weather' meant an immediate lockdown. None of them had yet had reason to use the final code, and Peace certainly hoped it would stay that way.

**_I'll open the door then._ **

Judging that it was only necessary to open one of the doors, Juke let them enter, quickly sealing the entrance behind them. As the pair hastened through the dwelling Peace found himself catching a glimpse of the nuclear bolt in one of the side rooms, surrounded by a mass of wires and cabling, and then was peering into a room that was marked with a glaringly obvious biohazard logo. They both knew better than to actually enter any of Hollow's rooms in search of him, for this was where he kept the truly dangerous equipment and devices for safekeeping; just making one misstep might set something off and kill them all. It was better to keep them here than in the workshop amongst the almost unnavigable hordes of contraptions.

The hallway widened out into a comfortable living room, where they immediately identified both Hollow and Leni lounging on a plush sofa, watching a muted television. Hollow's eyes flickered over to them at their entrance but there was no other reaction, meaning he'd been fully aware of their approach or had at least predicted it. He turned his attention away again to focus on carding his fingers through the soft waves of Leni's hair.

"Hello," she greeted, assuming Hollow's duty upon realising he wasn't going to bother. Peace was mildly surprised at how well she looked, though the bandages emerging at the sleeves and neckline of her shirt quickly reminded him that she _was_ actually injured. Still, she would have to appear fine to strangers since the prime minister had to return to public view as soon as possible to alleviate tension and dispel the fears of the civilians. The programmer found himself thanking everything – not for the first time – that he didn't have the tough job she did.

"How is Danni?" Rage blurted without any ceremony.

"She's absolutely fine," Leni replied with a smile, being the only one of them with a lawful reason to request information about their monarch. "Nothing more than scratches, bruises and the odd burn or two." Rage calmed almost instantly, and Peace suspected that the change was in part due to the gentle lilt of Leni's accent having a pacifying effect on everyone in the room.

"Well, I'm just here to tell you that Kia and Hatter are both going to be fine; they're resting right now, but Hatter will be good to go when she wakes. I've given Kia the strongest healing accelerants we have so she should be clear for basic levels of activity in a week, then intensive activity in another fortnight or so." He snorted in amusement. "I swear she has more drugs than blood right now."

"What have you got, Josh?" Hollow asked abruptly, having noticed Rage fiddling with something in his pocket as Peace's choice of words reminded him of what he had there. He pulled out a thin tube, sealed tightly so as not to let even a single molecule of the dark liquid in it escape.

"It's a blood sample," Rage explained, throwing it to Hollow who caught it with ease and turned the tube over in the light to examine it. "From Alex. He really was sick. His nano-protectors were wiped clean, and there was every sign of–"

"V-8112," Peace and Hollow chorused. Rage's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Is this another of those events that I've missed?"

"Absolutely," Peace replied. "We've had some rather concerning revelations about V-8112 in the last few months, and this only confirms our belief that it's been successfully weaponised." He hadn't even considered the possibility that nano-protectors could be affected by the virus, not because of their programming but because of their secluded nature. The microscopic robots were standard issue for anyone living in the scrapers, injected into the bloodstream within hours of birth to protect the body against pathogens and regularly updated with information about new strains of diseases as well as being capable of evolution when faced with an unknown threat. If their data was wiped they'd be rendered utterly useless, and the natural immune system left in charge would be pathetic in the face of even a mere cold virion.

"Well that's not good," Rage commented, understanding instantly the implications of such an event. "Do you know who's got it?"

"It's not certain, but everything points to Open," Hollow answered.

"Open? You mean Open Empire is back?" The incredulous tone of his voice took his speech to a pitch that was utterly unnatural.

"It's just 'Open' now," Peace corrected. "New management."

"Of course." He glared at them, daring them to insult the way he ran his prisons, but upon receiving no reaction his face lightened. "I should probably get back to headquarters then. Peace, send me a summary of everything I missed when I was away."

Peace smirked. "Yeah, holiday's over now, time for work. Why did we let someone as lazy as you be in charge of the entire police force?"

Rage scowled heavily. "Shut it. Send me that summary." He turned and stalked away, Peace laughing quietly at how easy it was to rile him up. Hollow returned his attention to Leni, who'd clearly been secretly tired as she had managed to fall asleep while leaning on him.

"Security should be increasing now," he observed quietly. "Rage may be an idiot but at least he knows his job."

Peace nodded his agreement. "Rage is home, Hatter and Kia are going to be back on the Open case – I say we'll be cracking this one soon." The smile on his face fell as he suddenly remembered something, the sequence of all three names sparking a reminder in his brain. "Dammit! I forgot to get him to take those cuffs off of them!"


	42. Visitation

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Kia rolled her eyes as Hatter asked the same question yet again. "I'm fine. Just don't make me run or do heavy lifting or whatever, and we'll have no quarrel."

"But are you–"

" _Yes_." She folded her arms exasperatedly, the gentle rumble of the train car beneath them only causing her to tense more, images of the tracks disintegrating flitting through her head and leaving a sense of unease even as she forced them away.

They'd both heard of Rage's return the day after the fact, and though it was only a matter of time before they had to see him, the commissioner had been inundated with ignored work over the past week – after much deliberation, they'd managed to schedule an appointment with the proviso that the pair go to him. They were two in a tiny number using this particular train, as the only stop was scraper 1 Y, the headquarters of the Metropolitan police force and maximum security prison.

Hatter wondered if Kia would freak out upon meeting Rage, as she always had done, but the girl's recent blasé attitude suggested that she'd gotten over… whatever it was exactly. It was going to feel odd, she knew, being capable of leaving Kia behind in a completely separate room and not having to worry about going too far away. She looked down at the cuff on her wrist, the knowledge that this was the last time she would see the precise blue pseuvi in that location filling her with a peculiar swathe of melancholy and nostalgia. Hatter sighed internally and shook the feeling off, focussing instead on another topic that was plaguing her. Sky had caught her up with the progress of the Open case one evening while Kia slept. The organisation had gone underground, and though Sky had managed to find the entrance to their hideout after much hard work, she still hadn't been able to break in. _"It's not very helpful though_ ," she remembered Sky saying, " _No one's gone in or out of there since I found it, meaning they've either abandoned the place or have other exits._ " Still, it was a solid lead where they had few, and Hatter was hoping to increase that number very soon.

The train slowed as they arrived and once it had fully stopped Hatter offered a hand to Kia to help her up from her chair. The girl, rather unsurprisingly, ignored the gesture with steadfast stubbornness, opting to clumsily stand by herself. Hatter watched her like a hawk – it didn't look like she felt any pain thanks to the drugs they'd pumped her full of, but that created the situation of Kia being far more muddled than usual and likely to fall or trip at any point.

They stepped out onto the open platform and were immediately greeted with a swarm of officers directing them toward security, which even Kia had the common sense to know they would not pass. It was the appearance of a familiar face in the sea of uniforms that saved them, as a man cut through toward the pair.

"Out of the way," he ordered, flashing a piece of paper – a form or something – at anyone who tried to stop him. "I've got orders from the boss." He looked over at them and winked in greeting, indicating for them to follow him to somewhere quieter where they could talk in relative privacy.

"What are you doing here, Matt?" Hatter asked as the trio paced through the corridors of the headquarters.

"I'm your express escort today. A get out of jail free card, if you will."

Hatter rolled her eyes at his deliberate avoidance of the question. "Come on. Was your cover blown or something?"

Matt chuckled. "No, of course not; I'm no amateur. I was called back for a HQ shift before I get to take some time off. A proper holiday, that's what I deserve. Now," he waved his permission at a guard stationed at a junction, "Rage's previous appointment is overrunning, so I thought I'd take you downstairs first, take care of all that."

Kia glanced at her guardian in confusion, previously unaware that their trip had more than one purpose.

"That works," Hatter agreed, either not noticing Kia's look or consciously choosing to ignore it. "Did everything go well?"

"Everything. He just complies with all the rules, so it's super easy to take him out of confinement. If we didn't know better, I'm fairly sure someone would have gotten lazy with his security by now." They stopped by a door and Matt rummaged in his pocket for a key that took an abnormally long time to locate. Finally discovering it he opened the door and immediately locked it again once they were all in the drably decorated corridor. One door labelled 'Inter. Three' was ajar and they headed to it, entering a dimly lit room with one wall made almost entirely of what appeared to be glass. Through it could be seen a table and a set of chairs, one of which was occupied by a tall, gaunt man who was tapping his finger on the table lightly and yet somehow making the metal ring even with such little force. He stared straight ahead and didn't acknowledge their arrival with anything but a sideways smile, and it was only when Kia had stared at him for far longer than was usually socially acceptable that she realised he couldn't see them through the glass.

"Who is that?" she asked tentatively, interrupting whatever formalities had been occurring between Hatter and Matt. The mod followed Kia's gaze, her lips thinned and eyes wary.

"A very dangerous person." She turned to Matt. "May we…?"

"Go ahead," he waved, pushing a button on a control panel on the wall. There was no visible effect, but clearly there _had_ been one as Hatter's demeanour changed from somewhat hesitant to steely and professional. She stepped forward and walked through the glass – obviously not what it was made of – the man looking up at her approach. Kia paused for a few seconds before copying Hatter and walking through the wall. It was like she'd been drenched with water for a split second and then she was completely dry by the time she left the window behind. Hatter pulled out a chair for her to sit in across from the man and next to her.

"Well," the stranger began, leaning forward with his hands on the table and his eyes darting from Hatter to Kia and back again, "You've grown since we last met, Hatter. Is it safe to assume this isn't just a social visit?"

"Like anyone would be visiting you for fun, Disaster," Hatter snorted. The fingers of her left hand dug deeper into her palm as she stared him and his smile down. As much as she'd changed, so had he. He was thinner now, his hair somewhat dull, and the orange jumpsuit with a black stripe across the chest certainly did him no favours. Last time they had met she was arresting him; he had seemed like a hulking beast to her then, but now he had only a fragment of the power he once had. And yet every hair on the back of her neck was standing at how his presence still filled the entire room.

"Then that must mean you're here for information." He leant back all the way in his chair and threw his hands up in the air lackadaisically. "I may be caught but I'm no traitor. Ask any one of the interrogators of this fine establishment – I don't talk. Unless…"

"What?" A demand; she should have known.

Disaster paused, then slowly, and deliberately, he shifted his gaze to Kia, staring at her with a set of eyes that left no doubt about whether his cunning had been maintained even in prison. "Tell me a story," he grinned, unsettlingly so. Hatter grit her teeth together.

"I'm not–"

"Hatter." Matt's voice sounded in the room, a tone of forced calm during urgency in his voice. "I need to speak with you a moment."

The mod hesitated, sizing up the situation as Disaster continued to stare at Kia. "Look," she said to the girl in a lowered voice. "I need to go for a second, so just wait here for me." A panicked expression filled Kia's face. "Don't worry, he's in a containment field. And I'm just going to be out there," she indicated to the 'glass' wall, "so I'll come back if the situation demands it. Which it won't." She stood and, glaring at the convict, passed through the barrier again to be greeted by the cold glance of Matt.

"Why exactly did I have to act?" he asked, eyes fixed on the interrogation room.

"I wanted to know what would happen if I left them alone," Hatter admitted, aligning herself beside him as he replied with a non-committal hum. A few moments passed in the other room, the obviously nervous girl trying to ignore the existence of the former Open Empire leader, and just as Hatter was beginning to think her experiment would bear no result, Disaster leant so far across the table his chin was almost touching the metal. Hatter tensed, rapt, as his face split into the widest grin she'd ever seen.

"Well hello there, Kia."


	43. Fear

Kia froze as she was greeted by the criminal opposite her, eyes wide and clearly surprised by the attempt at conversation. From behind the barrier Hatter watched the pair intently, having not fully expected the experiment to bear results. "Did I say her name while I was in there?" she murmured, leaning slightly toward Matt to indicate that it wasn't a rhetorical question.

"Not once." The negative was firm; she hadn't been in there long enough to slip up and address the girl by name.

"Didn't think so." In planning this encounter, Hatter had expected that Disaster might be curious about Kia, and on the off chance might even recognise her based on whatever unknown relationship she had with the underworld, but not once in all of the imagined simulations had she considered the possibility he might know her by name. It was fascinating - and unsettling.

Kia was remaining silent, staring decidedly away from the man who was still watching her closely. Her eyes flicked sideways occasionally, as if tempted to look, but for the most part were focussed on where Hatter had exited, waiting for her to return.

"Come on, Kia, don't give me the silent treatment. We're all friends here." He smiled, and if the mod didn't know any better she would say it was a genuine face of kindness.

"It's not the silent treatment," Kia replied eventually. "I just have nothing to say to you." Though her steady voice suggested confidence, the tremor in her hands, hidden from Disaster's sight under the table, and the light strain on her face made it obvious that she was nervous about what she was doing. Hatter felt bad for putting her in this situation but it was one of the only methods of gleaning information about Kia's links that could work, given that the girl herself had very little idea about her own dangers.

"That stings," Disaster joked, placing a hand over his heart briefly to emphasise his sarcasm. "But tell me; how did someone like _you_ end up with someone like Hatter? Someone so prepared with someone so..."

"Naïve?" Kia finished, eyes snapping angrily to his face at the unbridled intention to insult. Unfazed, the criminal chuckled. Hatter forced the contents of her stomach to stay where they were, sickened by how easily he'd managed to manipulate Kia into a state where she could reveal information he wanted. An odd part of her – a part she really didn't want to acknowledge – almost admired how he had made the girl irate, a task Hatter had failed to completely achieve in all the time she'd know Kia.

"And what was _that_?" Disaster queried, reaching for Kia's left arm, stopping abruptly as he remembered the containment field that prevented him from ever closing the distance. She flinched anyway, drawing the wrist he sought to her chest to protect it but inadvertently giving a good view of the device there. "Logic says it isn't, but my eyes tell me that's pseuvi technology…" He scanned the cuff thoroughly, quickly noting the chain that streamed out of the room. "Oh! You're shackled together! How amusing."

Kia thrust her hand back under the table with such force that Hatter could see she'd accidentally hit the leg of it. "Hatter saved me, and I know I should be sorry for holding her back all this time but I wouldn't change a second of it! Now, I don't know what you want from me–"

"Don't fret, child," Disaster placated condescendingly, finally leaning back in his chair. "It's just nice to have a conversation with a person who isn't openly disgusted by what I've done. It is difficult to find someone in prison who doesn't know me."

An open confession that she didn't know him. Hatter had worked that out from Kia's guarded behaviour, but it was strangely calming to hear it from someone else's mouth. The girl was beginning to show signs of impatience, meaning there was little time left before Hatter would have to return if she didn't want Kia to be suspicious of the true purpose of her absence. "Matt," she signalled simply to the officer she stood with, who nodded and opened the barrier for her to pass through. Even without looking at him directly she could feel Disasterwound's eyes boring into her as she rejoined her companion; her heart sank as she realised he had been aware of her watching them the whole time. There had never been any chance of getting information out of him by spying, it would seem.

"Hatter, back at last," he greeted. "Kia's just been telling me a wonderful story."

The subtle jab didn't go unnoticed by the mod and she grit her teeth, finding solace in the way Kia relaxed at her presence. He had what he wanted and she still had nothing more on the girl's connections. But if she recalled correctly, one thing Disaster had always been was a man of his words, and perhaps she could utilise that now. "And does that mean you'll talk?" She let a smirk cross her face to hide any unease.

"I suppose it does," he replied, laughing a little at her straightforward approach. "What would you like me to tell you?"

"Open. Who is in charge now?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue."

"You're lying. You must have had someone prepared to take over."

"Maybe I did, once, but you lot took care of all of that when you tore my organisation to the ground." He scowled slightly, the first negative expression to appear on his face the entire time he'd been speaking. "I don't know who escaped, nor who got caught, nor which of my people you slaughtered. I'm not even allowed any communication with the outside world inside my cosy little prison. All I can say is that whomever is the Boss now, they're not after domination like I was."

Hatter's eyes narrowed. "And how do you know that if you don't know who 'the Boss' is?"

"Well that'd be because you told me."

"I did what?"

Disaster tilted his head left, studying her. "You said 'Open'. Where did the 'Empire' go?" Hatter stared, understanding. He raised an eyebrow. "Exactly."

"So the change wasn't just to distinguish leadership..." she murmured to herself, only just loud enough for Kia to hear. "Can you think of anyone who might alter the name? What they're after?"

"I thought I said this already – I don't know. I can think of several members who would do that but there's no guarantee it _is_ one of the old order." He tapped his index finger on the table and Hatter felt the vibrations running through her palms. "But enough of that. I'm curious as to how you're holding up."

"What?"

"The news must have been a shock, and I don't imagine you'd be over it already," Disaster continued, unaware of the confused expression the mod was wearing. "He was sure eager to get out, but I can't wait to see the look on the guards' faces when they realise what a mistake they made." He chuckled and, in doing so, finally caught on to the fact that he was talking about something she was baffled by. His mouth fell open slightly in genuine surprise.

"What are you up to now?" Hatter queried, suspicious of his evasive nature.

"I…" He paused. "I just had no idea that they would be this _cruel_. Have they seriously not told you?"

Impatient now, Hatter growled, "Told me _what_?"

"He was released on parole about a month and a half ago. And you had _no_ idea that He–"

"Shut up," Hatter snarled and Disaster immediately fell silent, knowing better than to continue talking. Her blood was running cold at the news and her vision was bleaching to black and grey every second. His words were vague and yet she knew exactly whom they were discussing. Had it always been so hard to breathe? There was a frozen burn in her chest and every laboured inhalation felt like it was going to split her apart. Was she in danger? She couldn't remember, but she must be. Reaching for her Desync state, the mod found she couldn't access the ability, sending her spiralling into a deeper panic, desperately grasping mentally for anything she could use.

Suddenly she felt the touch of a concerned hand on her arm and dived for it, using the warmth as a lifeline as it firmly, yet gently, pulled her out of the mire of fear she was consumed by. She began to hear a loop of someone calling her name, the sound helping her to root back in reality where a face – Kia's – swam into view. "Hatter? Hatter, can you hear me?"

"I… We're going," she mumbled, finally realising where they were. "We're going," she repeated, loud enough for Kia to actually hear this time. The mod stood, her chair scraping harshly over the floor, and stormed out of the room with the girl trailing obediently behind her, bewildered.

"Hatter…" Matt began as they crossed the barrier, but Hatter cut him off with a harsh glare the likes of which Kia had never seen on her before.

"Is Rage free yet?"

"He–"

" _Is he free_?" The venom in her voice took both of them aback.

"Yes."

"Good. Don't," she held up a hand of warning as Matt made to lead them out. "I know where he is. You take care of that piece of scum and make sure he's thrown back into his rotten cell." Turning sharply on her heel, she stormed out of the interrogation room with long strides that Kia struggled to keep up with.

"H-Hatter," she stammered, finding it difficult to speak whilst maintaining such a breakneck pace, "what's going on?" It was like the mod hadn't actually heard her, too focussed on cutting through the corridors and the employees meandering through them in order to reach Rage even a moment sooner.

"I'm going to kill them," she spat viciously. "I'm going to _fucking kill them_!"


	44. Old Habits Die Hard

Kia could barely keep up as Hatter swept through the Level, slowly falling further and further behind in an elaborate maze of corridors that were unfamiliar to her; the mercenary knew them like the back of her hand and soon all that Kia saw of her was the final swish of a coat as she turned a corner. The girl kept following as best she could, making snap decisions about which way her guide had gone in a desperate attempt to warn her of something important that had been forgotten.

The handcuffs.

A horrible sinking feeling settled in Kia's gut as the chain began to run taut, then with a visible _snap_ reached the end of its tether. Her arm was yanked forward in the process and she stumbled, tumbling forward with one less arm to support her fall; the crash found her lying on her side, ribs protesting at the abuse they'd received so soon after their initial injury. "Ow," she hissed, rolling onto her back to alleviate the pressure slightly. Thankfully, she wasn't being dragged across the floor and the chain had relaxed again, which meant that Hatter had finally realised she ought to slow down. Kia felt a vindictive hope that the mod had also fallen, preferably on her backside in front of a mass of ordinary people.

As Kia got to her feet again - slowly and carefully – there were a few experimental tugs on the pseuvi as if Hatter we're testing if they could walk again, or an instruction to do so. The girl sighed and, as much as she wanted to turn tail and walk the other way just to annoy her guardian, she continued through the hallways, following the general direction of the infuriating shackles. She was challenged once by an officer, but was quickly let through when she displayed the pseuvi and mentioned both Hatter and Rage, whose office she soon located. The door was closed and, to her dismay, there was no visible way of opening it. Of course. Juke. And Hatter was already inside. Taking a deep breath, Kia knocked loudly in four quick, successive raps. Upon receiving no response, she tried again. Still nothing.

Plan B then. She lifted her left wrist into view but now her focus wasn't on the obnoxious cuff there, but the far less assuming communication device. She switched on the screen, which hovered above the bracelet in a classic holograph style – Hatter's small-scale Twitter communicators required an implanted chip in her hand, but simpler items, the type Kia was used to, contained them already.

- _I have an issue._

_-What's up, Plus One? :P_

Peace's reply was almost instantaneous, and she could only imagine what boring and menial tasks he was in the middle of.

- _I'm locked out of Rage's office. Hatter's in there already. She may or may not have forgotten about me._

_-Sure you've not just annoyed her to the point where she's ignoring you?_

_-Well she is pretty annoyed, but not at me. In all honesty, I'm concerned for her._

There was a moment's pause, which seemed longer than it actually was, exacerbated by the total silence in the dull corridor.

- _I'll open the door from here. Just this once, mind you._

She could picture the stern look he would be wearing just from the tone of his message. In all actuality she hadn't known what to expect from contacting Peace, but this was certainly the ideal outcome.

- _Thanks :3_

- _You owe me one :P_

She wouldn't deny it. Lowering her wrist, the door before her slid open, revealing an office whose superficial neatness didn't quite cover the mess beneath. At the far side of the room Hatter had her hand around Rage's throat and was pulling him a tad too far up the wall for comfort. His eyes darted toward the door as it hissed, causing Hatter's head to whip around as well. A sudden look of realisation flooded her face as she caught sight of Kia and she released Rage hastily, stepping away from him as Kia's wide eyes forced guilt upon her.

"Bloody shit," Rage mumbled, relieved that he was free. "0/10 would not recommend."

"Yeah, well, you should have just told me in the first place," Hatter snapped, her anger returning in a flash.

"I was _away_. I didn't know either!" he insisted. "The process is automatic; I swear I would have overridden it if I had been here. Take it up with Hollow if you must, not me."

Hatter just huffed in response, warned away from attacking him again (verbally or physically) by Kia's disappointed stare.

"I've… missed something, I gather that…" Kia tested hesitantly. "But I seem to recall another reason for visiting Rage?" She reminded Hatter by giving a deliberate glance at both of their forearms.

"Yes. Right." Hatter held up the pseuvi for Rage to see. "Yours, I believe. Get it off."

Eyes transfixed, and much bemused, Rage reached for her cuff. "So this is where it went? I come back to find it missing from my prototype room, and _you_ have it? Stealing my inventions now, are we?"

"Hatter didn't steal it," Kia chimed, determined to lighten the mood in the room even just a little. "A bunch of criminals had it and we got stuck together when they tried to kidnap me. Or re-kidnap me, I guess."

Rage stared at her like she was a crazy person, eyes flickering to Hatter to see if she agreed with him and finding himself surprised that she supported the story. "Well that can't be right. No unauthorised personnel are allowed in my prototype room."

"And yet," Hatter pointed out, "here we are."

Grumbling, Rage dismissed her. "I need the end with the release," he stated, reaching for Kia's arm instead. Once he'd gotten a grip he pulled her toward a desk and dropped her hand on a rectangular pad made from some form of tactile fibres connected to a tiny, encoded keyboard; she ignored the dull ache in her bones, a result of the abrupt manoeuvring, setting it aside for consideration later. Fingers flying, Rage issued the command to the pseuvi, reminding them both that despite appearances and actions, he _was_ classified as a genius.

The cuffs hummed slightly then faded, leaving only the small metal section that had once resided on Kia's wrist now sitting forlornly on the fibre pad, Hatter’s counterpart joining it shortly. A little over two months tied together and that was all it amounted to. "Anti-climactic," Kia muttered, and Hatter couldn't help the small smile that threatened to raise the corner of her mouth at how disappointed the girl sounded. Without really thinking about it, both of them rubbed their wrists, simultaneously perturbed by the empty feeling. Kia's Twitter bracelet slid down to fill the place of its harsher cousin but it wasn't quite the same. Now that the pseuvi was gone, she realised the data streams had been numbing her skin and it was like she had acquired a gentle form of pins and needles as full sensation returned.

"Back where you belong," Rage whispered to the tiny metal pieces before slipping them into his pocket. "And how was it? Any side effects?"

"None immediately noticeable," Hatter replied, rolling her eyes. Sooner or later he would ask her for a full report, she just knew it. "How on Earth did you manage to make such a small pseuvi though? And the power source – it should be huge!"

Rage just waived the problem away with his hand. "Oh, I just used an Infinitesimal class phyrofilament frame with an eretinous ateleiotegen implosive contained in a multi-fold matrix of…" He stopped, registering the blank looks on their faces. "What am I doing: you'd _never_ understand it."

"I… There were words?" Kia semi-stated.

" _Hollow_ would have understood."

"Damnable geniuses," Hatter joked at Kia.

"Genii," Rage quipped, looking proud of himself.

" _Geniuses_ ," Kia retorted, face twisted in malicious glee that she had the chance to correct someone deserving of the discussed status. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's grammar."

"Really?" Hatter didn't recall that being an obvious feature of Kia's behaviour.

"Yes. But normally, I just chose to ignore it."

Perhaps the memory was stimulated by the removal of the pseuvi, but Hatter suddenly recalled the day she had met Kia, and her own comment on how she spoke. _That's some fancy grammar coming out of you_ , she mused, internally this time around. Well, maybe Kia was telling the truth about her grammar mastery.

"Do you two have anything else you need or will you leave now?" Rage asked, obviously impatient about something. Hatter suspected he would be ditching his next appointment to run diagnostics on their appropriated handcuffs.

"We ought to be getting back," the mod admitted, gesturing for Kia to follow her. "Besides, I need to have a few words with Hollow and Peace." She headed for the door, opening it as the girl bade a pleasant farewell to Rage in her stead. Neither of them noticed how close Kia stayed to her guardian despite the lack of chain.

 

* * *

 

"Hatter." The train rumbled beneath them, barely out of the station and taking the direct route back to the Common.

"Mm?"

"What was it that they didn't tell you? Who was released?" The sharp intake of breath to her right told her that the mod hadn't been expecting that question.

"It..." she began, hesitant about what she wanted to say: or more importantly, what she was able to say. "It was someone who should never have been released. There is no other person whom I hate more in this world." She shut her eyes and Kia knew she wouldn't get any more information out of her for now.

Usually, Kia was the one who fell asleep on longer train journeys, but as Hatter felt the light fingers of drowsiness edging her mind she relaxed into the feeling, allowing the depths of unconsciousness to take her. Kia would wake her when need be.

She trusted her.


	45. Down

Hatter was no longer aggressive in her rage, but that didn't mean she had gotten over it. Waves of impatience and irritation rolled from her, bouncing off of the lift walls and just generally making Kia uncomfortable, but it was the occasional notes of hurt that stopped her from berating Hatter. Clearly whomever had been released from prison was a dangerous man, but the true root of the mod's upset was obviously personal and with little doubt was related to what had transpired during their Induced dreams, information Kia had once been denied by Sky; even Hatter had closed her questioning quickly, so she knew better than to probe further for the present.

The lift stopped and the pair stepped out briskly onto the now familiar landing of Hollow's workshop, and the unobtrusive door that Hatter opened by answering Juke as she always did, the phrases allowing Kia to follow her an ingrained habit that neither of them even thought about anymore. Once inside, Hatter made a beeline for the central station where Peace, Hollow and even Leni were sitting. The prime minister looked up and smiled as she saw Hatter, the expression quickly faltering as the greeting wasn't returned.

"Peace," the mod said forcefully, "why didn't you tell me He was out?"

"What?" He glanced up from his work with a face that showed he wasn't taking her seriously. "You've got to be a bit more specific than that, Hatter."

"Oh, you know _exactly_ who I'm talking about," she hissed, and the flare of fury clearly sparked something in the programmer's brain because his eyes went wide and he stopped breathing properly. Hollow and Leni had paused their own conversation to listen in confusion.

"I don't know wha-"

"Don't try to lie to me, _Cally_." She slammed her hand down on the desk for emphasis; Kia didn't think she'd ever heard a nickname spoken with such menace. "Fluke may be our coordinator but we all know he delegates most of the intel collection to you. I could understand if Hollow doesn't know because he's always so busy with whatever it is he wants to be inventing, but there's no way _you_ could have missed His parole."

At the mention of parole both of the confused parties caught on - there was only one prisoner Peace would attempt to conceal information about from Hatter. "Look," he sighed, finally turning fully away from his computer screen. "Downfall was released around the time you were knocked out from the Inducer. I didn't want to cause unnecessary worry during recovery so I was waiting for the right time to break it to you."

"And let me guess - a good opportunity never presented itself?" She snorted. "Don't baby me, Peace. Have you forgotten which one of us actually brought Downfall in? Because it _definitely_ wasn't you." Hatter and Peace stared each other down amidst a silent symphony of bated breath, even Hollow not daring to tear them apart.

"Um..." At the sound four heads all twisted to stare at its source, and Kia felt increasingly uncomfortable as she became the centre of attention. "Sorry... who is 'Downfall'?"

"He," Peace answered bitterly, "is a dangerous man we know almost nothing about; we don't even know his aliases, let alone his _name_." At the last word his glare intensified and refocussed on Hatter again. She scowled in return. "Can we not do this now? I have a rather pressing issue that's just come in-"

"Oh _sure_. What, pray tell, would this issue be?"

"One of Hollow's Bats is missing!"

Hatter blinked, caught off guard at the honestly worrying situation. She glanced over at Hollow and from the look on his face guessed that he already knew of the absence and had been waiting for someone else to confirm it for him.

"I just contacted Evanz," Peace continued, pointing at the screen where their messages were still being shown. "Remember we lent him one for the launch party? In all the fuss I had forgotten to have him send it back, but apparently he thought we already took it because he hasn't seen the thing."

As angry as she was, Hatter admitted that this was a very serious situation - there was a reason the majority of Hollow's work was never made public, and she dreaded to think what would happen to the Bat's technology and whose hands it might have fallen in to. "You... need to prioritise that," she conceded, but still angled for some form of consolation and security. "But could you at least allocate a tail to Downfall? I have to be ready if he tries anything again."

"We're ahead of you there," Peace replied, risking a smile and finding it genially received. "Graves was reassigned to that the same day Sky was put in charge of the Open case. Fluke wanted us to keep it quiet so only he and I knew what it was Graves was doing."

"So that's why he's been cagey this whole time? That explains a lot," Kia nodded to herself, content now that she had an answer for a minor mystery and that it seemed both the mod and the programmer had calmed down. Neither of them was in the wrong, exactly, nor had Peace been trying to hurt Hatter by concealing Downfall's reappearance in the outside world.

Just as they were all pondering what to do next - now that they'd reached a kind of impasse - the floor beneath them rumbled, sending a light but rough set of vibrations up through the soles of Kia's feet. She frowned in bewilderment and glanced around at them all. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Hatter queried, accompanied with a look of askance from Peace.

"I didn't feel anything," Hollow shrugged.

"Really?" The girl's face skewed. "I guess I'm imagining things."

"As much as I'd like that to be true, I also felt something just now." Leni glared at the floor as if she suspected it was lying to her. What had it been? A nook of her brain began to ring warning bells as it presented a possibility to consider - shockwave. She opened her mouth to voice concern but a loud alarm originating from somewhere nearby cut her short.

Wasting no time, Hollow and Peace both leapt to the closest computers and began furiously opening and closing programs, glancing at neighbouring monitors, and typing at breakneck pace. "Skyscraper 12 T's systems are offline," Hollow called. "Have we got visual yet?"

"Unresponsive. Connecting to 12 S instead. It should be- oh shit." At Peace's expression they all crowded around his monitor. Kia, being the shortest by far, could only just make out what was shown but it was bad. _Really_ bad. A chunk of the scraper was missing, leaving behind frazzled wires and broken edges where the Mist could be seen already creeping in to take the place of a thick, black smoke roiling out. Fire dimly lit some areas of the wreckage, and even the glass of the camera they were using, a camera on a separate scraper entirely, had been cracked from debris that had come flying out of the wound. Another explosion had occurred only a week after the first, only on a much greater scale. "Juke, patch me through to Graves _NOW_." His last report had come from the scraper that very morning and Peace desperately needed a first-hand account of what was going on, perhaps even of the cause.

"AtCon is isolated," Hollow informed, having returned to his own screen. "But there's not much I can do for the damaged Levels without risking the integrity of the rest."

**_No communication device available for Graves._ **

"What?" Peace didn't want to hear something like that, not with this timing. Behind him Leni gasped softly, placing a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry. "Try again!"

**_No communication device available for Graves._ **

"Then find whichever operative is closest to the epicentre and call them!" Peace commanded. By now even Kia must have understood what Juke's failure meant.

**_Connecting to Runapia._ **

A flood of chaotic background noise surrounded them as Juke opened the link. There was a moment's hesitation before an answer. "Hel- Hello?" Her voice was shaking, wracking from the smoke she had inhaled and clearly caught off guard by the call. "Hollow? Peace? Please tell me that's you."

"It is," Peace replied, pulling up a floor plan that had her location on it; she was on the very edge of the crater's internal side, a potentially unsafe area. "Runa, can you tell us what happened? Do you know?"

"It was... That man, he must have had this place wired a long time ago..."

"What man?"

"Downfall! I saw him and followed- the floors were riddled with explosives, Peace, you've no idea!"

"Runapia, I know this is your first hands-on crisis but I need you to concentrate. Are you badly hurt or do you think you can start evacuation?"

"My arm's a bit..." There was the sound of rending fabric and couple of pained grunts as she attended to whatever she'd noticed, and upon speaking again she was slightly more out of breath. "That'll stop it for a while. I think I can start the evac."

"Good." She was getting into her stride and Peace was glad he'd gotten a competent operative on the line and not some low-level newbie. "We can't help you much from here - you need to get anyone who can move down to Level 64. Lifts are offline so use the stairs. I'll start patching other operatives through to you as and when I find them."

"Roger." She coughed, the smoke clearly beginning to become too much for her in that area. "You should have seen Downfall though; it was really weird. He was so focussed on some random civilian, then just suddenly went for the detonator! Graves tried- oh shit, Peace! Graves, he- he was right in the middle of it!"

"We're aware," he replied solemnly. Beside him Hatter straightened, face grim as she adjusted her bandoliers.

"I'm going to head out there," she informed, and he just nodded. Having an experienced moderator out there would be life-saving so there was no point denying her. Coat flaring behind her, Hatter made for the lift, already planning the shortest route for her to get to 12 T. It would have to be a Ground trip, which meant a good deal of running. "Kia," she commanded, noticing finally that the girl had trailed after her instinctively. "Stay."

Frozen in shock at the order, Kia could only watch as Hatter left both her sight and vicinity for the first time since they'd entered the scrapers.

 

* * *

 

 

Jessi sat down heavily with a shuddering exhalation. Even the winding of his kittens around his feet was of little comfort as he waited for the call to come in, as it inevitably would. Such an unexpected event, it had torn through the organisation and put all the members in a temporarily sluggish state. Not surprisingly, Hallie had slinked away upon hearing the news and Cel wasn't replying, either because she wasn't paying attention to comms or because she didn't feel able to reply. Thus it fell to him to wait, and after an hour the line began to ring, connecting him to the one person who had yet to find out the tragedy.

"Boss," he greeted simply, his tone giving enough away for their leader to hesitate before asking.

"...Tell me."

"It was..." he paused to figure out how to say it properly. "We lost Mineos, from Cel's division. He was following one of the leads and... well, you probably already know..."

There was silence for a while, then there was a quiet sound of the Boss muttering on the other end. "Dammit." Then louder. "Dammit. Mineos was one of our best. I shouldn't have applied a Low Risk to the mission. Has his family been informed yet?"

"I sent out a couple of people for that already." Jessi reached under his goggles and rubbed his eyes roughly, letting the eyewear settle back into a comfortable place by itself afterward. "You mustn't blame yourself. They were all given a basic observe mission - none of us knew a target would catch on so quickly."

"Yes... The only upside is that Downfall can no longer hurt anyone." There was a strange sound, like someone moving in the background, and the leader fell silent abruptly. A tense moment passed, then the sound ceased and Boss returned focus to Jessi. "Implement the Funeral Protocols. Set the wake for tomorrow evening and I will try to observe from here."

"Understood," he agreed, gathering that the Boss was short on time. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes, just... Keep an eye on Hallie. I need to know if her condition is worsening or not."

Jessi frowned. "If you think it's a problem why did you put her in charge? Doesn't really make sense."

There was another silence, this time accompanied with a chilling force rolling from the communication line. "Are you doubting my decisions?"

"Well I- that wasn't what I... I just think that... she's not-"

"Binary will do, Jess. Are you doubting my decisions?"

"No," he replied firmly, giving up on any point he might have tried making. The Boss wasn't someone he wanted to be of the bad side of, especially during a mourning period. "Orders understood, Boss."

"Good." With no farewell, the leader ended the call and Jessi shrank in his chair, completely exhausted from all the high-profile activity Open had been carrying out in the past few months, all toward an end goal that no one but the Boss knew. And yet, despite even himself not being trusted with that information, Jessi wouldn't change any one of his decisions that led him to here.


	46. Life Ever-Moving

The list of the dead was growing at an alarming rate as the mods and their subordinates tagged each new body that they found and categorised the injured by their wounds. Alongside these was a pile of corpses rendered unrecognisable by the fires and initial blast, a pile Curaxu and his team would have to sift through in the coming weeks to find out just which civilians had been lost from the world. Peace sighed as he added another affected to the count, the only consolation being that, slowly, the reports were coming in less frequently.

Nearby, Hollow was working on the colder task of sealing off the damaged Levels and deciding which areas were worth salvaging and which were useless to them now. Leni had retreated to their personal quarters but that didn't mean she wasn't helping; refusing to idle and do nothing she had appropriated the task of efficiently and suitably relocating the inhabitants of 12 T, since the scraper would be cordoned off during the investigation and reconstruction. Peace was dealing with hundreds of deaths, but Leni was juggling close to 250,000 lives - there was no comparison.

"Everything alright, Kia?" Peace asked as there was a break in reports. The girl looked over her shoulder upon hearing her name, a blank expression on her face as she computed what had been said. Slightly removed from the central station, Kia had been using her Twitter bracelet to contact family.

"What? Oh, yes, they were all on Level 50 at the time so they're safe." Upon fully comprehending which scraper was damaged Kia had paled considerably, recalling that a group of her cousins resided there. The relief on her face now just barely covered the grief that had settled in. Peace pitied her; she'd grown quite attached to Graves since they'd met, so despite her family surviving she had still lost someone she cared about.

And all because of Downfall. Where once had stood two very different girls, Peace now saw Kia becoming more and more like Hatter, even if neither of them were aware of it. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair.

"Are you feeling well?" Kia asked, concerned that the programmer had forgotten how to do anything but stare at nothing. "You... you can't have known this would happen so don't blame yourself..."

"Kia," Hollow called, "I need you to run over to the records room and pick up the 12 T file." He didn't even turn to her as he issued the order. Kia gave Peace one last sad glance before turning on her heel and jogging away to complete her minor mission. "She's right," Hollow continued once she was out of earshot. Peace paid him only half a mind as another body was flagged. "You mustn't blame yourself."

"I don't," he confessed. What was the point in taking the blame? And for what - not telling Hatter about Downfall's release? He didn't regret that decision at all; informing her straight away would have done immeasurable damage given her tenuous mental state at the time, and if he had the chance to change things he still would have done the same. Perhaps he could have kept an even closer eye on Downfall but he doubted that would have helped at all, if it didn't make the situation worse. What happened was deeply regrettable and he was far from happy about it, but it really wasn't _his_ fault alone.

As the total death count ticked over 600 Kia returned, hauling a stack of documents that contained the entire legal history of the scraper. The same information was stored electronically in the building itself and could usually be accessed remotely, which meant either Hollow was trying to distract Kia by having her fetch the paper version or he honestly couldn't retrieve the virtual form. Judging by the untidy state of the stack Peace guessed that she'd probably managed to drop it at some point on the way back and the mental image of her tripping spectacularly threatened to raise an inappropriately timed chuckle.

"Do you need me to get anything else?" Kia queried, glancing between the two of them, desperate for something to do. "I can make tea if you'd like?"

"Tea is good," Hollow nodded enthusiastically. The girl turned to Peace to hear his answer but Juke's voice cut across the group before she could find out.

**_Hollow, Peace, I have recovered an incomplete report from Graves. Would you like me to play it?_ **

Peace froze. During his observation of Downfall, Graves would record his reports and encode them to make sure only the programmer could glean any information from them – they didn't want every bounty hunter in the city to know he was released, after all.

"Play it," Hollow commanded. There was a brief pause as Juke converted the report to the correct format.

" _Peace, I think we have a bit of a problem here."_ He sounded winded, like he'd just had to chase his quarry through a full crowd. _"Downfall started acting strange – I mean, we know he was strange anyway, totally unstable, but even stranger than that. I think he's being followed."_

There was a moment of distracted talking to someone at the scene. Kia's heart felt tightened at the sound of Graves's voice, the record of his last moments. "Runapia?" she wondered aloud.

"Maybe," Peace agreed, and then Graves returned his focus to the report.

" _Sorry about that. As I was saying, I can see Runa following him but she's not the reason for this behaviour. There's definitely someone else, someone who's been following for over half an hour now? Maybe an hour? I don't know- wait! There! Some guy is watching Downfall closely. Dammit, he's way too obvious! Stupid bounty hunters! Hold on, Downfall's just turned in the other direction; I wonder wher–"_

The ghost of Graves cut off abruptly, leaving the air empty.

"Shit," someone whispered softly and Peace turned to look behind himself, startled that the profanity had spilled from Kia, likely without her even intending it to. Not that he was against bad language but it just seemed so odd, so un-Kia. Bitterly, he reminded himself that it wasn't unheard of for people in mourning to act out of sorts. The loss of one of their mods, once the news properly sank in like it just had for the girl, would affect everyone in their organisation; right now, he and Hollow were simply persevering against the feeling through sheer willpower and, wretchedly, having lived through the same event several times in the past. The life of a moderator was a dangerous one.

"What do we do?" Kia asked quietly.

"About what?"

"Do you... is there a special... funeral or something?" She looked rather unhinged at this point and Peace berated himself for letting her listen to the report.

"Not really." Perhaps sending her away to get some sleep would do her good. "We all just... remember, in our own ways."

"Oh. Okay. Okay."

"Kia, you don't look well," Hollow stated matter-of-factly.

"I'm fine. I can help. Tea." At the last word her eyes lit up slightly and they flickered between the two of them as if searching for approval.

"Maybe later, Kia. Just go to your room and take a nap until Hatter gets back." Hollow stood and something about the action seemed to make her more attentive to what he was saying. Peace suspected the cause was the height difference between them. "You've got a set of ribs to heal, remember. Use your energy for that."

"Right. Ribs." Slowly she nodded, then backed away for several metres before realising she needed to face the other way to see where she was going. Step by step she disappeared from sight, hidden by the numerous contraptions in the workshop. Peace quickly tapped out a message on his Twitter communicator so that Sky would know to come down and let Kia into the lift.

Returning to his work of identifying tagged bodies, Peace couldn't help but wonder why they all basically considered Kia one of their number now. A girl who had been completely dependent on them for months – it was akin to owning a pet. A pet that could talk, true, and had brief moments of extreme usefulness, but a pet nonetheless. On the other hand, that might just be what inspired a level of protectiveness in everyone who'd met her. She represented an entirely different mindset from their own somewhat jaded dispositions, whilst being so unthreatening it was impossible to imagine her being any danger. He managed to scrounge up two words that fit together to describe her: trusting and trustworthy.

"We're going to need reinforcements," Hollow commented abruptly.

"More from the foreign teams?" Neither of them would be using the phrase 'to replace Graves' but they were both thinking it.

"Yes. There's been too many incidents lately, and we need to get fresh eyes on them."

"It's not a bad idea. It ought to be someone who'll fit into our teams quickly and hold them together…" he mused. Meeting Hollow's glance the pair shrugged, simultaneously thinking the same thing.

Eryn.


	47. D.A.

Anyone else would say the room was silent. The lights were off, the curtains were drawn and Kia was asleep on her bed, curled into a cat-like form in the corner of the mattress where the headboard met the wall with an impromptu nest of sheets around her. The sight didn't really surprise Hatter when she saw it upon entering the room, having witnessed the same structure being built several times before, usually when Kia was upset or tired or ill. Once or twice she'd stolen the pillows from Hatter's bed just to fortify the wall.

Hatter knew the room was silent. She knew, and yet still there was a roaring in her ears, the sound of the sea crashing against the Outer Wall amidst a storm cycle. Tinnitus, from the hectic day in scraper 12 T. That much shouting and crying and destruction - it was bound to leave its mark on anyone, even a mod. She was exhausted, so after checking to make sure none of her pillows were missing Hatter simply threw her coat and bandoliers over a chair rather than folding them like usual, then collapsed face first onto her bed.

There was a rustling from Kia's direction that Hatter had learnt was the very specific sound that meant the girl was awake and had turned to look at her. "You look awful," Kia commented quietly, head resting on top of her barrier in order to actually see her friend.

"Yeah," Hatter agreed for once, not bothering to make any snarky reply. "But what about you though?"

"What, you saying I look bad?" Despite trying to sound insulted, like she usually would with such a line, Kia just came across as curious instead.

"That's not what I meant. How are you holding up? What with," she paused briefly, "Graves being gone and all... I know you were close." For more than a month she'd watched them message each other over Twitter, seen how Kia had made a typo with his name so many times that she would just automatically address him as 'Garves' both on- and off-screen. Even with Graves hiding every detail of his mission from her, it had been a fast friendship that ended too soon.

"Oh. That." She pulled a face and made a movement that might have been shrugging. "He's a complete idiot isn't he? Letting his communicator get destroyed like that."

"What?" Hatter frowned. Kia's attitude was far too flippant, and the content of her sentence itself concerned the mod. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine. It's him you'll have to worry about. When he gets back he'll probably be burned, maybe have a few broken bones. He'll steal my spot in the infirmary." She scowled at that, as if it were a place that actually belonged to her.

Hatter stared at the girl for a good while, finally catching on to what was wrong with her. "Kia... do you understand that... Graves is _dead_? I know you'd rather not believe it but it's the truth."

She snorted. "Sure. He's like a cockroach; for some reason no matter how much you squish him he still moves." A headshake. "It's crazy."

"Kia-"

Hatter was cut off by a loud and somewhat exaggerated yawn. "Wow, I'm tired! Goodnight Hatter." Deliberately not meeting her eyes, Kia turned away and curled deeper into her nest.

"Wait, Kia..."

" _Goodnight_."

Hatter had moved to a sitting position during their conversation and now sat there, dumbfounded and staring aimlessly at the rejection surrounding her companion. As much as she wanted to help Kia wrap her head around what had happened, right now was probably not a good choice of time to discuss it. The girl was obviously in no mood to talk, let alone hear the truths in what Hatter was saying.

Deciding to keep a close eye on her charge and make another attempt tomorrow, Hatter flopped back down and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

 

* * *

 

Snakes. Surely that would work? Kia absolutely adored snakes, so hopefully being in their presence would make her open up a bit more. That morning Hatter had awoken first and, after checking that Hollow didn't need her for the day, made both tea and plans to get the girl out of the Common. Knowing Kia, she instinctively made three cups of tea for her - two to get her out of bed and one to get her to follow without asking the destination. Hatter knew a guy a couple of scrapers over who ran a snake house and was certain they'd be let in to admire the reptiles, given that he owed her a favour. But first, she would have to get her there.

"Are we nearly there yet?" Kia wondered in childish, song-like manner. She had done pretty well not asking where exactly it was they were going, the tea bribe obviously having an effect.

"Yes," Hatter answered through gritted teeth. "Now would you please stop that?" Just because she had behaved herself on one account didn't mean she had done so completely - the mod totalled 56 repetitions of the same 'are we nearly there yet' starting from when they left their room. Literally. It had taken Kia three seconds to try to annoy her.

Kicking some unfortunate piece of debris that had managed to get in front of her foot, the girl pouted. "Garves wouldn't be this mean to me," she mumbled.

Hatter stopped dead, forcing Kia to a stuttered halt to figure out what was going on. The mod, driven to an extreme state of irritation, rather unwisely blurted out, "Well he couldn't be - he's _dead_." Had she been in a decent state of mind Hatter would never have made the comment, but her brain was worn thin by the sheer amount of tragedy around her the previous day.

"Don't you say that," Kia growled, incited by Hatter's tone of voice.

"What, that's he's dead? It's _true_ , Kia, and you know it! You heard it! Peace told me about the report." Hatter knew she was going to regret everything she was saying very soon and yet couldn't help but dig the hole she was in deeper.

Hackles raised, every feature of Kia's body language became defensive. "There might have been any reason for the report ending like that! Maybe he dropped his comms as he ran for safety!"

"It's impossible - to drop that watch of his when the place blew and get out of the blast radius, he'd have to travel at basically the speed of light! There's no way he survived!"

"Oh, so you were _there_? You saw, second for second, exactly what happened to him? Did you? Huh?"

"No, but I saw the aftermath! Face it! _Graves is dead_." Kia didn't speak following that comment, choosing to stare at her guardian in silence with anger and fear rooted in her eyes. Faltering at the look, Hatter extended her arm to the girl in a gesture of apology. "Kia, I-"

"No. She stepped back. "No." Turning roughly on her heel, Kia took off, dodging confused passers-by and leaving Hatter in the dust, her arm still outstretched. The mod was frozen for what felt like an eternity, uncomprehending for long after Kia had disappeared from sight. When she finally returned to herself she hastily lowered her arm, glaring at onlookers who were watching a tad too intently.

"Boy, you sure upset her. What did you _do_?" Mez asked, munching on an apple as she followed the line of Kia's escape with her eyes.

"I said stupid things that I shouldn't have," Hatter answered, the venom in her voice directed purely at herself.

"Oh. Well, we've all been there," replied Mez, obviously recalling several of her own experiences of the fact.

Even though she was out of sorts, Hatter would forever be ashamed of how long it took for her to twig that something wasn't quite right with the situation she was in. Perhaps it was because she was so used to having a small person by her side that subconsciously she mistook her conversational partner for the currently absent Kia. Slowly turning to look at the girl, Hatter raised an eyebrow. "Mez?"

The junior mercenary rolled her eyes and pulled the apple from her mouth, leisurely mashing the piece she retained until she could swallow it. "Took you long enough to realise."

"I thought we agreed not to interfere with each other for a while," Hatter scowled.

"This isn't interfering. This is coincidentally coming across one of the most dramatic scenes of the year. You two should star in a soap or something." She bit into the apple again and an extremely childish part of Hatter urged her to smack it from Mez's hand. Enough of her sanity remained to resist, however. "Now, forgive me for prying into your personal habits, but I cannot help but notice that you have abandoned a particular accessory of yours?" The statement was posed as a question and though she seemed light-hearted on the surface, there was a clear strain of disapproval in everything Mez did.

"I haven't got time for this," Hatter sighed. "I need to catch up with Kia."

"I don't see why you have to. She'll just head home now she's free. It's a win for all of us, as much as I'd like for you to lose."

"Seriously Mez, this isn’t the time. Kia, she... she's unstable right now. A friend of hers just passed away and she isn't taking it well. For all we know, she's already managed to hurt herself somehow!"

Seemingly unfazed by the situation, Mez just tilted her head to the side. "Friend of hers; colleague of yours? 12 T." She nodded as she put the pieces together. "So we've got a DABDA case?"

The mod shot her a bewildered look. "A _what_?"

"DABDA. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. You know, those universal stages of grief? Or maybe you've never considered it with that cold heart of yours."

"I know what it is; I've never heard it said like that before. Weird."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. For Kia's sake," she locked eyes on a bin on the other side of the street and readied the apple core, which was all that remained, "her sake, not yours," she squinted, pulled back her arm and threw, "I'll help out." The core landed perfectly in the bin and Mez gave a smug smirk. "Now, where might we find Kia?"


	48. B.

"Kia is incredibly stubborn," Hatter explained to Mez as they traced the girl's exit, "even when she doesn't mean to be. Once she's headed in a direction she'll follow it as long as she can."

"That's all very well, but what about that?" Mez indicated to the T-junction that was fast approaching, which would have foiled Kia's 'straight ahead' method not long ago.

Hatter wasn't fazed, however. "She'd go left."

"And how can you be sure of that?" Quite fairly, the Confession was sceptical about such an arbitrary assertion.

"I've noticed that when presented with identical options - say, two apples - Kia always chooses the left one. There are other things as well."

Mez skipped forward slightly, a smirk on her face as she looked up at Hatter. "Ooh, now I'm curious! What other things?"

The mod glanced at her, not quite sure why Mez thought now was the time to tell such trivial stories, but decided to humour her anyway since she had offered her help where she ordinarily wouldn't. "Things like, she lines stuff up from the left, likes to sit with a wall on her left, walks with people on her left and always puts her left shoe on first." Now _that_ was an argument she remembered clearly, Kia unable to contain how baffled she was by the fact that Hatter didn't start from a specific side, despite her own reasoning for having a set routine that went from left to right being simply that 'it should'.

"That's an awful lot of lefts," Mez commented, pulling a face. "I guess we ought to take one." They had reached the junction now and followed the path Kia had almost certainly gone down. Though hoping to adhere to the same parameters she'd already set, Hatter's tracking was thrown out when the hall widened into a grand plaza of shops that was riddled with temporary market stalls, where small businesses were doing their utmost to vend their wares. Almost immediately they were approached by a pair of men handing out flyers for some intellectual meeting or club; Hatter turned them down by simply ignoring them, whilst Mez enthusiastically took the leaflet. Where would Kia have gone? Hatter, anxious about finding her, shifted into her Desynced state.

The world slowed around the mod, allowing her to see the detail no one else could. She saw every time Mez's eyes moved to the next word on the flyer as she read it, saw the fall of a leaf and predicted its landing spot without thought, saw the moment a parent realised they'd lost their child in the crowds. Like this she could filter out anything that wasn't useful until a clue appeared.

Hold on. A leaf? As far as she could recall, all the trees in the scrapers were synthetic - hollow casings to protect cabling whilst still being visually pleasing. The leaves shouldn't fall unless disturbed, and yet there was a spattering of them around the base of one tree that was designed to look like an elm. Thinking about it, it made perfect sense. Kia sought out familiarity when distressed in any way, and the bustling plaza was sure to heighten her uncertainty to the point that she would attempt to retreat from it. How many times had Kia mentioned her visits to the Eden Tower? Enough for Hatter to understand just how much she loved _real_ nature. So by the time the mod's gaze panned upward she'd put it all together and wasn't the least bit surprised to glimpse Kia's boots through the dense shelter of the branches.

"There," she pointed out the tree to Mez, to whom barely a second had passed since she'd taken the flyer.

"What? Fuck, how'd you see that? Never mind." She opened and closed the question so quickly that Hatter didn't even begin forming an answer in her head. Mez strode to the tree, five steps ahead, and peered up at the unaware girl hiding there in the heights. "Have you got a tracker on her or something?" she asked quietly as the mod caught up, unsettled by how quickly they'd located a very well camouflaged target.

"No." It was the truth, but she could only speak for herself; Hatter was fairly sure that Peace was mistrustful enough to have tagged everybody he knew, even the mods. It wasn't a bother though, so she left it be.

"Kia?" she called, receiving a reaction instantaneously. Kia visibly tensed and made herself smaller, to make it harder for Hatter to see her in the dark shadows cast by the cage of leaves she'd placed herself in. Anyone but the mod would never have noticed her. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Would you come down? Please?" She waited, either for a reply or for Kia to follow her request. Neither happened, and Hatter was vaguely aware of Mez's eyes rolling in exasperation.

"That's never going to work," the junior mercenary muttered. Then she rolled her shoulders back and stretched out her spine. "Give me a boost," she instructed, sighing when Hatter didn't comply. "Like this?" she demonstrated, holding her hands out in front of her to indicate a platform. Catching on, the mod copied the position and braced herself as Mez stepped back for a short run-up. One, two, three back, and then she launched forward, jumping up with such ease that Hatter barely felt her weight on her hands before it was gone again and Mezola had caught hold of one of the lowest branches. How Kia had managed to reach them without help she didn't know, but that didn't matter right now. Mez gripped the fake wood and pulled herself up, swinging her leg onto the branch and manoeuvring herself into a low crouch, taking care not to hit her head on anything. Kia was a ways up but Mez was good with climbing, speeding higher toward the girl with nary a sound - the 'tree' was bolted tightly to the ground so didn't sway, nor did the synth-wood creak. Besides, Kia was so distracted by her own thoughts that she didn't notice the mercenary until she was sat on the neighbouring branch.

"Mez?" she said in a hushed but clearly surprised tone. "Why are you...?"

"Let's just say I wanted to help a friend," she replied with a smile, using the same volume that Kia had. This was to be a private conversation, it seemed, since Hatter was far enough away that she would only be able to tell that they were talking, not hear the words themselves. "Hatter is waiting for you."

Kia's face contorted into an expression that was halfway between anger and relief. "I don't want to talk to her."

"Yes, I gathered that." Mez adjusted herself so that she sat more comfortably, legs dangling over the edge of the branch. "But I wanted to talk to you."

"Are you here to take me away?" The question was dull, purposefully kept free from emotion, a fact that Mez didn't miss.

"Not yet. I heard you were grieving over the loss of a friend?"

"Graves." Kia gave her a sharp look, pronouncing his name correctly for once. "But what would you know about it? You hate all of them."

Mez nodded in acceptance of the observation. "I can't pretend I know Graves the way you do. But Kia," she leant forward slightly, "I know grief. Shit, I know it way too well. Why do you think I'm part of the Confessions?" They were both silent for a while, an unspoken understanding reached. When Kia finally made a face that prompted Mez to continue, she did. "Do you know what DABDA is?"

The girl frowned. "DABDA...? Is that an acronym for the stages of grief?"

Mez had to hold back a laugh at how easily she'd gotten it compared to Hatter. "Yes. Now, you're an intelligent person, Kia, I'm sure you're aware that you're in the middle of it. You're denying Graves's death."

"He's alive," Kia argued, somewhat lacklustre.

"Maybe. Maybe there's a 1 percent chance he survived. But then there's a 99 percent chance he didn't. You have to prepare for the 99 percent, Kia, so that tiny 1 percent becomes so much _greater_ if it's the truth. Do you understand?"

Kia made no motion but her eyes showed Mez that she knew. She knew Graves was gone. "If I do that... will it hurt less?"

"I couldn't say," she replied honestly with a gentle shake of her head. "But let me tell you a little secret: DABDA? The five stages of grief? It's all a pile of shit. The stages of an individual's grief could be a completely different order, have a thousand more stages or a few less, could take a few hours or last an entire lifetime. I know grief. And there is only one thing I have _never_ seen. Nobody skips straight to acceptance." Mez directed Kia's attention downward to where Hatter was pacing below them, obviously concerned but not attempting to follow them up the tree despite the fact that she could probably find a way up by herself. "You're not alone, Kia. I can't say I approve of your company, but for all her misdeeds she's still human, and she's what you need right now. That's why I'm not going to take you away. Not yet."

Kia looked at her with thankful eyes and slowly smiled. They just stayed there for a while, swaddled in the dark and a comfortable silence, both of them remembering the people they had lost. Eventually Kia shifted, glancing down at Hatter and making a sound that Mez suspected was supposed to be a laugh. "Do you think she hates me right now?"

"Don't think so. Want to find out?" The grin that spread across her face was not a good one, and if she had any sense Kia would have run. "Hey, Hatter! You ready to catch?"

In the instant she shouted the question Hatter's head whipped around to look at them and Kia began to have a very bad feeling. Before either of them could act Mez had placed her hand firmly between Kia's shoulder blades and shoved her off her perch and toward the ground. With a shout, Kia tumbled through the branches, following a route that miraculously didn't have her hitting any of them too roughly or getting caught on them. The branches cut off abruptly and she reached wildly for any of them to hold onto to stop her from falling to the ground, but her hands found nothing but empty air. Just as she was certain she would break her legs, Kia landed heavily in the arms of Hatter, who was wearing a slightly panicked look left over from her rush to figure out where the girl would drop out of the tree.

"Mezola!" she shouted angrily, the mercenary in question cackling gleefully as she made her own, far more fluid and graceful way down to the ground. She landed in a crouch before them and stood up as Hatter let Kia use her legs again. "What were you thinking?!"

"Trust exercise," she shrugged. "Worked, didn't it?" Kia stilled looked spooked and Hatter still looked furious. Perfect. She'd managed to distract them both with a jolt of adrenaline, which would keep their minds off of Graves's death for at least a little while. "Man, am I thirsty! Either of you want a cup of tea?"


	49. Confess

"Welcome," Mez announced with a grand sweep of her arm, "to our humble abode!"

Kia stared in awe at the lavishly architectured mansion they had entered, the sight of which would have once made her gape had she not become accustomed to the sheer size of the Common. Hatter just glanced around, showing no signs whether she was impressed or not, and mentally noting anything that might be useful to her depending on the situation they ended up in.

"Mez," Kia posed, stepping closer to the Confession, "should you really be letting Hatter in here? You're not exactly friends..."

"No worries!" Mez clapped her on the back, not even trying to keep the conversation quiet like Kia had. "This isn't our headquarters; District 8 is way too upmarket to be comfortable. Besides, _that_ lot already know we own the place - don't you?"

Hatter raised an eyebrow at the fact she was asked so openly. "No comment," she replied smoothly, causing Mez to chuckle.

"Kia, here's a little piece of knowledge for you: 'no comment' means yes. Always." A pause. "Well, at least nine out of ten times. At least."

Nodding in distracted understanding, Kia shifted her weight from foot to foot as she tried to get used to the peculiar give of the synth-wood floor beneath them. She automatically looked to Hatter to remark upon it but hastily averted her eyes, not yet willing to meet the mod's gaze. It was all so very awkward.

"Woah, what's this?" A voice came from behind her, causing Kia to jump. "We letting in anyone off the streets now?" It was a young man, sat on the stairs with his face pressed to the bars of the banister in order to peer at the visitors. He grinned at Kia's staring.

"Potato, good timing!" Mez exclaimed. "I invited them over for tea - could you go and take care of that? Kia can go with you."

"Yeah, sure." He got to his feet and jumped down the rest of the stairs, landing neatly and beckoning for Kia to follow him through a doorway. Hesitant, and understandably so, Kia paced quietly after him and disappeared from sight. Hatter turned to say something to Mez but was cut off as Potato swung back around the doorway with an afterthought. "I just thought I'd warn you that Wala is in the living room right now." He punctuated the information with a nod, then vanished again.

"Well, that's sorted," Mez stated, dropping her smile as she glanced at Hatter. "This way." She didn't indicate a direction, just started walking down the hallway with an expectation that the mod would follow blindly, which she did. Hatter actively avoided looking at the cheerful pictures that lined the hall and so barely noticed when they reached a set of double doors. Mez pushed the right hand one open and didn't hold it once she'd passed through, not so subtly hoping it would catch the mod off-guard; unfortunately for her, Hatter reacted in time and they both made it into the living room unharmed.

It was a spacious room, with two long sofas and one smaller one centred around a plain coffee table. A TV screen was attached to one of the walls, a host of gaming devices nestling in shelves below it. At the back end of the room sat brightly coloured crates, some overflowing with toys and others contained neatly within their own areas. From the sound of her own breathing, Hatter could tell the room was soundproofed, probably because of its high usage. At current, however, only one person was in there, lounging on the sofa across from the door as she read. She - Wala, presumably - glanced at Hatter over the top of her book when they entered, staring the mod down even after Mez directed her to sit opposite the girl.

"What's up?" Mezola greeted as she choose not to join Hatter and dropped down next to the girl instead.

"The ceiling," she murmured, then returned her attention to her print.

"This is... nice," Hatter said, trying to break the silence that fell after the brief exchange.

"You think?" The junior mercenary swung her arms over the back of the sofa and put her feet up on the coffee table, jogging the reed diffusers that sat on it and causing a fresh wave of lavender to scent the air. "If I manage to land this transport job I've been looking at then I might get a new TV for everyone. This one doesn't even run on Tower!"

"That's old," Hatter nodded, somewhat confused by the menial talk they were having whilst Mezola was still managing to give her a death glare.

Their eyes both darted over to the door as it started to open, pushed by someone walking backwards, hands full with a loaded basket of laundry. "Walama, have you seen my- " At this point he had turned and caught sight of Hatter, freezing on the spot. OKD gaped, making the healing burn scars on his face shine in the change of light, clearly wondering how she got in, before having the tact to close his mouth. "Uhh, never mind, I just remembered where it is. Uhh... yeah." He darted back out of the room again, the door having been propped ajar with his foot. Immediately Mez started laughing uncontrollably, almost falling off the sofa. Hatter was just bemused.

"What was that about?" she queried, since Mez obviously knew something she didn't. "What's with the bad excuse? He was acting odd last time we met as well."

"Oh man," she began, still finding it difficult to breathe through bouts of chortling, "it's because he thought _Kia_ was in here with you." She snickered again.

"Kia?" Hatter frowned. "What does she have to do with it?"

"Right, so," Mez leant forward, grinning, "I had to explain to everyone about why we're having a truce for now, so I told them about Kia as well. OKD has a bit of imagination on him and he seemed to get the impression that Kia is a 'benign hero' or something ridiculous. And what she did at the launch party certainly didn't help the case!"

"What on Earth... Does he like her!?" Hatter's voice raised in surprised and caused Mez to break out giggling again.

"He does! He absolutely does, no matter how much he denies it! Well, a glorified version of Kia but still: it's hilarious, isn't it?"

She thought on it for a moment, weighing up whether it was more a hindrance than a hilarity but finally settling on the latter. "It is."

"What is? What are we talking about?" Potato asked as he and Kia entered the room with perfect timing.

"Nothing," Hatter replied, forcing her smirk away at the cautious look Kia was wearing.

"Tea," the girl said simply, placing two mugs on the table in front of Hatter. The mod relaxed slightly as Kia settled on the sofa beside her, though the girl's ordinary seated posture indicated she wasn't entirely comfortable. Potato (which was perhaps the most fascinating alias Hatter had ever heard) handed mugs to both Wala and Mez, keeping his own hot chocolate close to him as he sat on the currently unoccupied third sofa.

"This is good tea," Mez noted as she took a sip.

"Kia made yours," Potato admitted, sending both mercenaries' attention to the girl, who was currently locked in some form of staring battle with Walama.

"The Sky will fall," the Confession stated, clearly but not loudly. Kia's face contorted in confusion and Hatter couldn't help but feel uneasy at what might have been a reference to the name of her colleague. "The General Interface shall begin the end. Be ready."

"What is she on about?" Hatter turned to Mez angrily, not sure if she was being mocked or not. Mez just gave her a look that said 'wait'.

Walama stood, shutting her book with a snap and reaching down to pluck her tea from the table. Seemingly ignoring everyone there, she headed for the door, where she paused to look back at Kia. Her gaze then panned steadily to Hatter. "The Sky will fall, when one becomes two but is still one." Upon finishing the phrase she promptly pulled the door open and left the room, likely to head upstairs after OKD. Dumbfounded, Kia and her guardian just stared at the painted surface of the door for a few moments before turning their heads in sync to call for answers from Mez.

The Confession smirked over the lip of her mug. "It was a prophecy," she said, as if that explained everything. "You should pay attention to it. She's never wrong."

"Prophecy? As if that's true," Hatter scoffed. It was probably just a case of Walama's words being vague enough to fit any situation in retrospect, a tactic that every cheap fortune teller employed.

"I'm not joking," Mez retorted, unusually serious as she set her mug down on the coffee table. Potato was watching carefully, as if their conversation were a tennis match. "She's not a fraud. Wala is a _Dragon_."

Hatter stiffened at the word and instinctively reached for one of the capsules on her bandoliers before catching herself in the act and stopping. "Oh?"

"Don't give me that look; she's been cleared of charges, you idiot." Mez rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you can check the records. Her parents are serving life in Holloway and Belmarsh."

"Right." The mercenary relaxed slightly, but not completely. A Dragon. The term had caught her (and Kia, judging by the concern on her face) by surprise, having not expected to hear it in the heart of the Confessions' base, given how law-abiding they claimed to be. Everyone knew about Dragon technology - what had started as advanced prostheses and implants for helping the less abled had quickly spiralled out of control as an endless string of faults appeared, driving the recipients insane in a multitude of different ways. In fact, the Dragon line had been the last straw for the government concerning its manufacturers, DraCom, who had already received an official warning about the stability of their products after the failure of the Inducers five years prior. Harsh punishment awaited anyone found in possession of the technology after it had been banned, with an even more brutal punishment for anyone selling or providing it, since the designs were still being passed on the black market. Rage's predecessor hadn't acted quickly enough to confiscate all of the schematics, unfortunately, so the mods were still occasionally bringing in Dragons. "Mind telling me how her being a Dragon affects her ability to tell the future?"

"Well, we're not actually sure," Mez admitted. "She's not crazy though. The tech's in her spine," she tapped the nape of her neck to indicate where, "so we figure it's so rooted in her system that it lets her see things that us ordinary people can't. You get used to it."

"Yep," Potato agreed. "Two years of prophecies and you actually start understanding what she means _before_ it happens."

Mez nodded. "It's actually why I was in the library that day," she said, chuckling as she recalled something amusing. "We were out walking and Wala just fucking trips on _air_ : lands flat on her face! Then she looks at me and goes '2, R, 78, plus one. Go'." Mez affected her voice with an ominous tone that Hatter had trouble believing actually happened, giving the soft-spoken person Walama had appeared to be. "I've got to admit, I didn't really know what she meant by the last part but I guess she meant Kia." She shot a grin at the girl, who returned a weaker version.

"Still, it doesn't make much sense, a Dragon seeing the future." Hatter secretly couldn't help being amazed by how Walama was treated. She knew the Confessions were all inherently good people, even if they were at odds with her most of the time, but still never expected to find them quite so accepting; there wasn't even a _hint_ of disgust in the way they said 'Dragon', despite the term often being used synonymously for accusation of lawbreakers.

"Well, that's just how it is," the junior mercenary shrugged, picking up her tea again. "There's probably some science or shit behind it, but who cares?"

It took time for the 'playdate', as Mez called it, to finish, drawn out by how long it took for Kia to drink her tea. When she finally had, Hatter directed a hasty retreat out of the building, Mez reminding her in an undertone that the whole event was purely for Kia's sake and would not see a repeat. Then the mod and Kia were alone in the streets of a District neither of them belonged in, awkwardly walking beside each other and waiting to see who would make the first move.

"So, it's… cold," Hatter commented eventually, glad for her coat. Kia pulled her own jumper closer around her torso.

"Yeah." The girl glanced back at the doors that had just been closed on them. "They have an awful lot of toys for their age," she said, as light-heartedly as she could manage.

"Kia, did you not…?" the mod began, but the look on her charge's face answered for her. It was the one real reason the Confessions hadn't been chased out of the place once the location was discovered by Peace, and no one had the heart to contest the hands-off order. "I guess you didn't realise because most of the people who live there were out. It's an orphanage, Kia. The Confessions set it up five years ago."

Her eyes widened as she looked up in surprise, and Hatter couldn't help the feeling of glee that Kia had reverted to one of her standard patterns. "Oh," was all she managed to say.

"Yeah." Hatter glanced around to get her bearings. "We ought to get back quickly. They've got a storm cycle scheduled in the evening, and I'd rather not be trapped here."


	50. The Beginning

Bounty hunter. That was technically what Jessi was, wasn't it? The title existed as an umbrella term for a multitude of different professions, and the only thing that separated them from mercenaries was the lack of official documentation. Hunters took the same jobs, had the same skills, the same lifestyle of living one day to the next. So how were they really different?

Jessi snorted at his own philosophical thought processes. Obviously the difference lay in the legitimacy of their jobs - he'd literally just finished settling in some illegal immigrants from an allied group with new papers that the police would never find any issues with. Why, exactly, several Chinese triads seemed to trust them enough to use British networks rather than their own escaped him, but no doubt it was down to something the Boss had done in the past, probably before joining Open.

Now that his mind had wandered to the topic of their absent leader, Jessi found himself painfully aware of the devices he held in his hand, kept sneakily out of sight so that no one who passed him in the corridor could even begin to guess what they were. Two flat discs, less than half the size of his palm each, and both empty of any data. It had taken a while for him to work out the purpose of having a second disc when only one would be needed, but when he finally got the eureka moment it had been overshadowed by the reality of events unfolding around them all, an intricate web of deceptions and technology. To be honest, it was all a big pain, and he missed the days of no ultimate goal, just taking the jobs as they came and not questioning what on _Earth_ was in those sealed boxes they often found themselves transporting. The menial grunt-work had been left behind when Disaster was captured, and both himself and the Boss had catapulted to the very top of the organisation, rebuilding it from the ground up. If he closed his eyes he could recall the day everything had changed like it was happening all over again.

" _Hide here_ ," Boss had said, boosting Jessi up to a nest in the plenum that had been fortified specifically for hiding contraband.

" _Where are you going?_ " he asked, panicking as they turned away from the safe spot.

" _I have to let Disaster know I survived this. He deserves to be informed of who the next Boss will be._ "

" _But what if you get caught too?_ " Jessi could have argued the point all day but faltered as a determined set of eyes met his. Determined, and gleeful.

" _I won't and you know it. I'll see you later._ "

" _Hold on, R... You're just going to get a look at the cops who caught him, aren't you?_ "

A grin. " _Perhaps. I'm curious as to why someone so young is allowed to do police work. That is, if they_ are _the police._ " With one last glance back, the Boss gave a shallow bow in farewell. " _Stay safe, Jess._ "

It had been the last the hacker saw of them for the next fortnight. He'd only stayed hidden for two days before leaving the hiding spot, hastening away and deliberately making it difficult for anyone to find him in order to spite the 'friend' who had left him behind. He had never been blamed for doing so, only receiving an ecstatic reaction upon reuniting rather than the peeved one he'd been expecting.

Jessi was tired. Being a bounty hunter had never been top of his list for ideal futures, but the feeling was exacerbated by the inhabitant of the room he now stood before. On any other day and under any other situation he would walk past the unassuming door whilst deliberately not looking anywhere near it. Situated in the very heart of Open's dormitory wing, it was rare that anyone but the Executives passed by this way, meaning most members would never know where to find Hallie when she had withdrawn from them all. Perhaps one or two from the Liaison division but he doubted it, given how she automatically distanced herself from everyone. And for the first time in a very long while, Jessi was paying _her_ a visit.

"You in here?" he asked as he stepped through the door, a scowl in his voice as well as on his face. "Hal?" It was unusual. The room was dark, a lone desk lamp on beside a neat bed; had the lights been fully up, Jessi would have seen a clean room that was functional, but lacked the personal touch of the one living there. Instead, he could only make out the scrunched form of a human huddled with their back to the wall, hands pulling its head down as if to tear it off. She flinched away as Jess approached, the hacker crouching down to put them at the same level. "You don't look so good."

"Shut it," Hallie snapped at him, keeping as much of her face in the shadows of her arms as was possible.

"That bad, huh?" Jess tilted his head to the side to get a better look at her. How many times had she been like this that week? Probably too many. It had reached the point where she could barely hold herself together even in front of the other members of Open and the hacker would need extra hands to count how many times he'd had to shoo her away when she began shattering right in front of everyone. "I had a message through earlier. A message with no sender."

Hallie finally dared to meet his gaze. "Figit..." she murmured, not obviously abhorrent of the name like she usually was. Oddly, she seemed slightly comforted by it. "Was it for me?"

"I'm not actually sure who it was for," he admitted. After all the searching he'd done, Jessi still hadn't found even the slightest clue about who Figit was, nor how he was doing impossible things. It pained him, but he had to confess that Hallie had been right for once. "All it said was 'it begins', whatever that means."

The commander chuckled, though there was no sense of joy in the sound. "He knows. He knows about me: about everything." Another laugh. "It begins as I end."

"Enough of that," Jessi scowled. "I don't care whether you disappear or not, but the Boss does. R needs you for something really important, else you wouldn't have been promoted to substitute leader, would you? You have to hold out to the end."

"Do you think Boss predicted this?" she asked, completely ignoring what had just been said. "That I wouldn't see how this whole plan turns out?"

"Of course not," Jessi reassured, wondering to himself why it was that she never got sentimental until she was breaking. He twisted around to put his back against the wall and slid down so that he sat next to her in much the same pose, except with his head held up and arms merely resting over his kneecaps. "You and I both know that's not what the Boss intends. After all, I was told to make two." He turned his palm upward and uncurled his fingers, revealing the disks sat there. The smooth metal reflected the ceiling perfectly even in the dim, except in the centres where three concentric circles were engraved on each to highlight the only non-metallic feature. A single small stone on the upward facing surface, dull now but designed to throw light when the device was in use; basically, they were LEDs. Less noticeably, a hollow channel ran the diameter, making it possible to string the devices on a thread or ribbon.

"Are they ready?" Hallie asked.

"Yep. Just need to find someone to take them to Boss." Jessi couldn't help but feel proud over his work, particularly since he'd had no schematics to work from, as well as still having thought to design them so it appealed to their leader's sense of aesthetics.

"Right..." The commander stared at the devices absently for a while, not saying anything else but sharing a silent understanding about what would happen next. Then, she took a shuddering breath and tugged at the blonde locks on her head. "Will you be able to manage all the divisions by yourself?"

"Maybe? I think so." Since Cel had left, the pair of them had been sharing the workload of her unit whilst still running their own; Jessi wasn't actually sure whether he could handle Tech, Field and Liaison all by himself, but it was obvious that he would have to. Even if Hallie stayed, she was in no state to give orders anymore.

"Don't muck it up," the commander - _former_ commander, he had to remember that - warned, and Jessi honestly couldn't tell if she had intended a scathing or joking remark. "I've called back some of the agents from low-profile missions, so you can look forward to that. And don't forget that the moderators know where we are, even if they can't get to us. And check up on Pyro and Lisa. They're at the Outer Wall but I never got their report yesterday."

"Woah, okay, slow down; this isn't your last will and testament, Hal."

"You never know."

Jessi couldn't say anything in reply to that. He liked to think the Boss had planned enough that they weren't in any danger, but the fact of the matter was that, particularly for Hallie, there was a real chance she would never make it back to the hideout.

"There's one last thing," she continued, realising that he was stumped. "Rachel. We need her."

"Do we?"

"I have this feeling that we will."

"But she doesn't want to come back," the hacker pointed out, though he would certainly feel safer if she were around.

"If you tell her the Boss called... She'll believe you. She trusts you. I swear, all of you old members are so damn- " Her sentence cut in the middle, Hallie gave a sharp gasp of pain and somehow curled even further into herself. She was so pale now that Jessi was almost certain he could pass his hand through her form, like a ghost.

"Don't push yourself," he cautioned.

"Ha..." A strained laugh. "Why are you... being so... _nice_ today...?"

He scowled. "I'm not. It's just that I have a brain and can keep things sorted by myself. I don't want to have to hear you rattle on about stuff for any longer than I have to." It was a partially true excuse. Seeing Hallie like this only reminded him of just why he hated her very existence so much, and yet he simply had to show some sympathy for the Boss's sake, since their leader couldn't be there at the tenuous moment. "Make sure you stay rested." He held out the storage devices to her. "Here."

Hallie peered out from between her arms and weakly reached for them, thin fingers wrapping around the metal but not feeling the chill of it.

"Thanks."


	51. Out

Kia yawned, mouth gaping so wide that Hatter almost believed she was going to unhinge her jaw just like the snakes they had finally gotten around to seeing earlier that day. Understandably, the girl was exhausted from what could only be referred to as frolicking with the reptiles; once, Hatter had left her alone for a few minutes and returned to see Kia lying prone on the floor amidst a swathe of colubrids, having fallen asleep in the middle of admiring them all. The root of her tiredness, however, was the excessive assistance she had provided over the past few days as the inhabitants of the destroyed scraper were directed to their assigned temporary quarters. Though not technically being involved in the relocation, both Hatter and Kia found it best to keep busy, blending in with the crowds and helping to carry boxes, or even children sometimes. Several mods overseeing the move had noticed their presence, but had thankfully agreed not to notify Hollow, else they would've been denied the right to leave the Common on the grounds of Hatter's 'mental duress'.

"I'm tired," Kia whined, stretching out on the bench she had claimed outside their room.

"You don't say."

"I think I'll go to bed early tonight." She yawned again, sitting up. "Can you let me in?"

"Sure." Hatter memorised the page number then closed her book, setting it down gently. Standing, she made her way to their door and waited for Kia to catch up.

**_Welcome back, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower," she replied monotonously. Completing this exchange every time Kia wanted to go somewhere was bordering on annoying, now that it wasn't a given that the pair would go together. Already Kia had managed to get locked in the kitchen after Sky had let her in and promptly forgot to tell Hatter that the girl was in there. Kia, of course, hadn't minded at all, happily munching her way through the supplies.

**_I'll open the door then._ **

Kia graced her with thanks in the form of a loose bow as the entry opened, then swiftly disappeared from sight. "I'm not going through, Juke," Hatter informed, and she could almost feel the CI frowning at her.

 ** _I can't say I approve of this_** , he stated, shutting the door.

"You don't have to. It works, doesn't it? Helps to keep tabs on Kia when I'm not around."

 ** _It's highly inefficient though._** It seemed as if his attention was distracted for a second before he spoke again. **_Peace is here. He would like to talk to you._**

"Right." Turning, the mod could see that Peace had indeed been creeping up on her, obviously with some important matter to be discussed.

"Hatter," he greeted, finally reaching where she stood. "Is Kia not with you?"

"She went to sleep," Hatter informed, indicating toward the closed door.

"I see." Peace's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. So he knew, about what they'd been doing and why Kia was so tired. "Well it's good she's resting. You'll be taking a trip tomorrow."

"We will be?"

"The Outer Wall check is actually overdue," he admitted sheepishly. "I forgot to send someone, what with all that's happened. And since you're currently the only one free," he said this in a pointed manner, "I figure you can handle it."

"Sounds reasonable," she agreed. The Outer Wall was practically an autonomous structure that was integral to the lives of every inhabitant of the city, even if they didn't think about it often. There were always operatives working there but a report on situations was only compiled upon a biannual visit from a couple of mods; Hatter had been before, of course, but ordinarily Someguy was in charge of checking it.

"Make sure you're thorough," Peace said, the implied command in his voice not going unnoticed. He was sending them there to keep them both out of the way, and Hatter did appreciate the chance he was giving them to cool their heads. "If you head out first thing tomorrow you should make it there by the evening."

"Got it," Hatter nodded, already making a mental list of what they would need to bring. "Since that's the case, I think I'll head off to sleep now too."

Being closer, Peace snatched her book off of the bench and handed it to her before bidding goodnight and returning to his own very important work.

*=LINE=*

It was cold. Extremely cold. Even with the extra coats they'd brought, both Hatter and Kia were shivering as they walked atop the District boundary, wind howling around them. It was inconvenient, but the only way to reach the Outer Wall was on foot, and though walking at Ground Level would have provided better protection from the gusting air, Hatter thought it unwise to bring Kia back to the heart of her kidnappers' land; traversing the sea walls that separated the Districts was uncomfortable but they ran little risk of encountering bounty hunters since no one in their right mind would be there during the start of a storm cycle.

"Are we nearly there yet?" Kia shouted over the wind.

"Almost!"

The Outer Wall was a far grander version of the one they were standing on, circling the entire city of London and shielding it from the rage of the endless ocean around them. It was a monstrosity, towering over the pair for a good hour now and yet never seeming to get any closer no matter how far they walked.

"This is ridiculous!" Kia yelled, obviously trying to distract them both from the biting gale by making conversation. They would probably end up wearing their voices out, but it was an odd form of respite that Hatter sorely needed at that point.

"You have no idea! Last time I did this, Dom thought it would be hilarious to time our walk right when the rain started!" Though the last part of the journey was always a trek, the majority of the distance could be covered using the trains, hopping from one scraper to the next until either you were as close to the city edge as possible or a storm started and the pseuvi was shut down. From there it was a short trip across Ground and then you were up on the barrier network. "Did you know that the Outer Wall is actually the _second_ largest sea wall in Britain? The Kent Wall exceeds it in height, width and length!"

"I know!" She laughed as though deeply amused despite the situation they were in.

"Really?" Well, she supposed it might've been mentioned during Kia's time in school. "Then did you know there's an entire city inside it? They say the inhabitants are savages!" The Kent Wall had isolated itself from civilisation centuries back, opting to live in an entirely different manner than those in the cities. In fact, it was the only settlement in the world that didn't base itself around scrapers in an area clear of water, the wall standing by itself amidst the waves. The concept of it fascinated Hatter, and though she had never seen it she knew it was a structure that actually existed, not one of those mythical places like Atlantis. Kia said something in reply to Hatter, but she was too quiet and the wind was too loud. "Say again?" the mod shouted, stepping closer to her.

"I said they're not savages!"

"You what?"

"They're perfectly ordinary people! Half my family lives there!"

"You're kidding me!"

"I'm not! We still go out to visit them once a year! Well, since we take a boat it's usually only my father and myself but still…"

"What's it like then?" Hatter's curiosity had been piqued. Not to mention, getting Kia to talk about her family couldn't hurt in finding out why she had the HbM mutation. Whether the people living in the Kent Wall were savages or not, it couldn't be denied that it was a notorious hub for smuggling operations, being the favoured rest stop of almost all cross-sea journeys.

"Kind of crowded, I guess? Not really all that different from here! Though, the common sensibilities aren't the same! You'd probably get done in for wearing a skirt!" Kia chuckled, and Hatter shot her a confused look, wondering how that didn't seem unnecessarily violent to the girl. Clearly, some of the alternate sensibilities had worn off on her. "Hey, we're here!"

It was true. All of a sudden the Outer Wall had leapt up to them, the door to its innards sat neatly before the pair – and just in time too. The rumblings of thunder had just begun above them, signalling the start of the rain. Kia waited impatiently by the door, obviously expecting Hatter to open it the way she usually did. The mod couldn't help but smirk at that, grabbing the handle and heaving the heavy block open just far enough for them both to slip in, then closed it behind them. The scrape of metal rang through the entry room they found themselves in, and after straightening up a bit they examined their surroundings.

"What is it?" Kia asked as Hatter stalked over to a plastic booth with a frown on her face.

"There should be someone on guard here." She paused, listening intently. "It's too quiet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Serve God, honour the King, but first maintain the Wall :)


	52. Listen

Now that Hatter had mentioned it, the place did seem rather too silent.

"Maybe the guard just went to the toilet?" Kia posited, toning down her voice halfway through the sentence as she remembered they were inside now and no special effort to be heard was necessary. She padded toward the booth, giving it a thorough once over. The plastic was a clearly protective barrier, and inside was a simple desk and chair that didn't match. On the desk lay a pencil that had been used to doodle on a pad of paper, both items set down as if whomever had left them there fully intended to be back soon.

"That's not how it works," the mod scowled, glancing around for any more clues. "They never leave their posts until their shifts are over, not unless there's an emergency out somewhere."

"Ah. Then what we conclude is that there is an emergency." Kia nodded with her deduction.

"I can't see what else it might be," Hatter agreed, but the discontent look on her face told that she was still running a thousand other scenarios through her head. "Well, there's not much we can do from here, so let's head further in."

Catching on quickly, Kia bounded to the only other door in the room. It matched the one they'd already come through in both appearance and mass, and Hatter couldn't help but find it a little amusing watching the girl struggle to pull it open. When it eventually did, Kia had a bright look of pride on her face and she ushered her guardian through with a servile flair. They found themselves in a corridor that stretched from left to right, its minute curvature preventing them from seeing too far either way. Whilst not thin to speak of, the Outer Wall certainly hadn't the room to spare for comfortable walking areas, so the hall could fit only two people widthways in a fashion that anybody crossing paths would inevitably invade personal space. As such, Kia automatically fell back to walk at Hatter's right shoulder, the pair following a sign that pointed them to the control centre for this section of the Wall. Their footsteps echoed eerily, running away by themselves and making it painfully obvious that there was no one else about.

Upon reaching the control centre they were met with a discouraging sight. It was an area inset into the corridor wall, a long, squared-off archway marking out the space and - like everywhere so far - was devoid of people. The seating zone and reception desk were both empty of any life, but whereas the guard post had seemed abandoned for only a moment, here it was startlingly evident that something bad had happened. Chairs overturned in haste to leave, the drawers of the cabinets behind the desk left open and empty, their contents either looted or collected for safe-keeping. Even the sturdy polished sign announcing the location as the ‘Due West Hub’ had been cast to the ground, and Hatter delicately picked it up and returned it to its place above the arch, not failing to notice the surface had been warped unevenly by a pressure that could not have been the weight of even several humans combined.

"Looks like they left in a hurry," Kia commented, following Hatter's lead and righting the chair closest to her.

"It has to be recent," the mod concluded. "They knew we were coming soon, so they would have warned us if they had the chance."

"This happened today?"

"Perhaps yesterday. But no earlier than that." She used the tip of her boot to prod a sandwich that was on the ground, face turning down in disgust as the movement released the odour of ham that had been left out too long. Yesterday, then.

"I checked the area already, I swear!"

Hatter and Kia froze as an unfamiliar voice floated down the hallway, rough and irritated. The pair shared a glance and in that moment agreed that it didn't sound like someone they wanted to encounter without knowing the situation, so ducked behind the receptionist's desk. They settled on the floor with their backs flush with the bared and barren cupboard innards, trying to find ways to sit so that they didn't have to move at any point, lest they create unnecessary noise. From the tone of the stranger's voice, it didn't seem like he would pay too close attention to his surroundings.

"It doesn't hurt to double check," countered another voice. This one was softer and yet still somehow uncomforting, but thankfully it seemed that there were only two people walking their way, as no one else spoke up.

"You think I would miss someone?" There was a challenge in the first man's words, a threat that was obvious bait to get his companion to insult him directly – for her own sake, Kia dubbed the men as Low and High with respects to their voices, the application of such names relieving some of the unhelpful tension and allowing her to make more sense of what was happening. The sound of heavy footsteps was growing ever closer.

"You're not the only one on patrol," High said, keeping his tone neutral. "Any of them could miss someone. Or maybe somebody came in from outside." At this Hatter tightened her fists, wondering if he knew about them or was just speculating possibilities.

Low snorted in derision. "Nobody's a big enough idiot to come out here in this weather. Everyone we've got is everyone there is, full stop." It seemed her instincts had been correct; from what he'd just said, the mod figured they'd rounded up the people who worked in this section of the Wall and were keeping them somewhere. There was no way the _entire_ Wall had been taken out, else Peace would have definitely noticed something was wrong, but that didn't make things okay. What were the limits of the take-over? How many people did they have? And most importantly, were they averse to harming those they'd caught?

The strangers were almost upon them now, and Hatter found herself involuntarily chanting in her mind for them to just move past. But it seemed High was more committed to his duties than his companion. "I'm just going to check out this Hub, so wait there a moment," he informed and instructed. The mod froze, running through what they could do to survive the situation. But it seemed her brain was no match for Kia's instincts, as Hatter finally noticed that the girl had slid progressively backwards into the open cupboard under the desk, slowly for as long as the strangers approached so as not to make any noise. Though behind, Hatter was more skilled than her ward and could move quickly whilst still maintaining silence and was soon sequestered in her own cupboard. The pair both tucked away neatly, they pulled the doors shut mere moments before High walked behind the desk.

Sound was muffled inside the hiding spots, and Hatter thanked everything that she wasn't claustrophobic, nor afraid of the dark. The cramped space made her breathing painfully loud and though she knew it would be barely audible in the room proper she forced herself to inhale more shallowly to minimise the possibility it might be heard. Hopefully, Kia had the sense to do the same; Hatter was immensely disquieted that she couldn't check on her, a pane of plastic being all it took to separate the two of them completely. The temperature was also rising, and she swore silently that they hadn't thought to take off their coats yet.

"There's no one there," Low stressed, his words blurred through the cabinets.

"You never know." It was difficult to tell their voices apart by tone now, but High was so much closer that it startled Hatter into jumping. Thankfully, she was able to catch herself in time to keep from elbowing the door.

"Let's just _go_ already." High had some reply to that that Hatter couldn't quite make out, but his voice grew noticeably quieter as he moved away from the desk. The strangers continued their conversation as they went, making it possible for her to determine when they were gone a decent distance for her to safely leave the cupboard. Still cautious (just in case) she inched the door open and shuffled out, twisting and peering over the countertop to see the backs of two heads retreating down the hallway in the direction she and Kia had come from. Once they were out of sight and far enough away that their voices no longer carried to her ears, she gave Kia the all clear. They both stood, stretching out. Kia had definitely had the better time of it, what with shorter limbs, yet was still obviously freaked out about what had happened.

"Who are they?" the girl hissed, unsettled.

"I don't know. Bad guys. Bounty hunters." She lifted her hat and ran a hand through her hair before replacing it. "Damn, no one's tried to take over the Outer Wall for _decades_. They've got some nerve."

Kia stared at her for a while, then her eyes widened abruptly. "You… you think it's _Open,_ don't you?" The way she said it seemed almost incredulous.

"No." She hesitated. "Maybe. There's a strong chance. Open is one of the few groups capable of pulling something like this off." It was a real possibility that she had to consider, that Open was attempting to gain control over the city's defences, but one that she really didn't want to be the truth. Open had V-8112 in their hands already, and Inducers, and who knew what other powerful weapons – being literally surrounded by them was the last thing she wanted.

"What do we do?"

"I'm going to call it in," she said. Whoever was doing this, it probably wasn't something they could take on with just two of them. "Juke."

No reply.

"Juke?" she said again. This time there was a reaction from her earring communicators, but the high pitched sound being emitted that was akin to tinnitus didn't solve anything. "Shit," she swore as she realised. "The storm! It's interfering."

Kia raised an eyebrow. "It can do that? To Juke?"

"Normally it'd just be a little bit of background noise, but we're close to the weather station… it's completely messed him up."

"So what do we do? Go back and get someone?"

"We haven't the time for that," Hatter denied. "They've got hostages here." She took a deep breath and fixed her companion with a steady gaze, wishing that she could send Kia back for help whilst she stayed behind, but she couldn't in good conscience send the girl out in the storm. "We have to do this alone."


	53. Aeration

Hatter considered the situation. She considered the Outer Wall, the people in it, what had been said and what logic could be applied, all to determine where the hostages were being held. Were they at whatever control centre this take-over group had or were they in a separate room? Guarded or merely locked in? An infinity of possibilities ran through her head in the space of mere seconds, each eliminated in turn until only a few remained. From there, she let intuition take control.

"The weather station," she said matter-of-factly. "We'll head to the weather station. That's where they'll all be."

"And by 'all' you mean bad guys _and_ good guys?" Kia queried.

"Yes. And even if they're not, we'll be able to connect to Juke there. Either way, it's a plus for us."

"Alright." The girl peered left and right before looking back at Hatter sheepishly. "Where's the weather station?"

"About one and a half miles north."

"So right, then. That should only take us about twenty minutes to walk, what with this convenient corridor." Kia gestured toward it. She and Hatter could usually cover a distance in two thirds of the time it took others to do the same, both of them having an abnormally fast preferred walking speed compared to their fellows.

"I hate to say this, but we're going to have to take a slower route," Hatter sighed.

"What? Why?"

"Obviously, they're sending patrols out. Down here, we have no cover if we come across them, and we can't risk raising an alert. If we pass through upstairs we'll be able to hide." The Outer Wall had a potential five layers of rooms, the lowest layer being the circuitous hallway they were currently in. Whilst all five weren't frequently implemented, there would almost always be the second layer - this was the one Hatter intended to use. Glancing down the corridor, she managed to find what they needed and began to head for it. A simple metal ladder, bolted to the wall and reaching into a hollow in the ceiling.

Kia followed obediently, not even questioning how basic all of the mechanisms were at the Outer Wall. Everything was so manual compared to the scrapers, and she recalled learning that the grand barrier had actually been built _before_ the cluster of structures they currently lived in. That wasn't to say the place lacked technology, merely that there wasn't a need to implement systems made for comfort; in fact, at the Kent Wall it was abhorrent to even propose such luxuries since it would weaken the defensive capabilities. And against such a chaotic foe as the ocean, one weakness could spell death for everyone.

"Come on," Hatter muttered impatiently as she struggled with the wheel on the hatch at the top of the ladder. Hooking her feet tightly around the rungs she applied both of her hands to it, giving a vicious wrench. With a groan, the wheel finally gave way and spun, allowing her to push the hatch up and climb through into the next room, which appeared to be some kind of laboratory. Equipment lay abandoned on the counters and she knew it wasn't a place she wanted to stay in long, since one never knew what chemists had left out in bottles.

She turned to give Kia a helping hand, then shut the hatch behind them and sealed it so no one would be able to tell it had been used. "North," she reminded simply, and Kia led the way to the appropriate door, since there were two. It was a heavy looking thing, raised from the floor and rounded, also with a wheel that Kia was just about managing to utilise. As long as they were shut, these bulkheads wouldn't allow a drop of water to pass them, maintaining the wall's integrity should a section happen to get damaged. As such, Hatter took the time to make absolutely certain that this door was sealed as well once they were in the next room.

Time passed slowly as they progressed, following the same pattern as they encountered each door, Hatter keeping an ear out all the while for any sign of approach. Some rooms were long, some short, and some were nothing more than broom closets in Kia's opinion. It wasn't until the world shuddered around them that they halted.

"What was that?" Kia asked, but her throat had already tightened in fear at the feeling that had become all too familiar in recent weeks.

"Not good," Hatter replied, noting how the shockwave had made them both sway; the epicentre was close, it would seem.

"Uhhh... Hatter...?"

The distressed tone in the girl's voice made Hatter's head whip around to follow the direction that was being pointed at; the corner of the room, now decorated with a flurry of cracks that were spreading across the wall at an alarming rate.

"Run!" the mod shouted, lunging for the door they had only just closed, but it was too late. The damaged wall buckled inward and finally gave way, a rush of water surging into the room and sweeping both of their legs out from under them. Salt bit at Hatter's eyes and hit the back of her throat, causing her to cough and lose precious air from her lungs. Terror infected her veins as she couldn't breathe, vaguely aware of Kia suffering the same nearby but not being able to do anything about it.

Instinctively, she Desynced. Regaining some measure of control over herself, she kicked upward until she broke the surface, spitting out as much fluid as she could and exchanging it for oxygen. The room had almost completely flooded, sea water still rushing in through the damaged wall and reducing the air pocket rapidly. Hatter marked the presence of a ladder leading up and then identified Kia's still submerged form struggling with the onslaught of water, calculating the exact distance between the two. Inhaling deeply, she dived again, finding swimming an easier task now that she was prepared. Kia was the first goal, and soon Hatter was close enough to wrap her arms under the girl's shoulders. Kia's face was scrunched up in an attempt to keep water out of both her eyes and lungs but it didn't look like she'd lost all of her air, simply that she was fighting a losing battle with the influx of liquid.

Somehow, she seemed to realise it was Hatter by her and she relaxed, making the mod's job a lot easier than if she'd continued to struggle. Orienting so that their backs faced the floor, Hatter pushed them both up, Kia gasping loudly the moment they hit air. At least three quarters of the room was flooded now but they paid that no mind, backcrawling toward the ladder in canon, Kia second. After ensuring the girl had a tight grip on the ladder and wouldn't float off, Hatter threaded her legs through the rungs and focussed her entire attention on the hatch, cursing silently when it didn't cooperate. Amped with adrenaline, she yanked at the wheel and it gave way a little before sticking again, obviously not used enough to be well maintained and in good condition. It was just their luck.

Hatter was in the hollow between floors but Kia was lower, and beginning to panic as she found herself with her face pressed right up to the roof to make full use of the final few centimetres of oxygen. If Hatter couldn't get the hatch open then there was literally nowhere to go, so Kia stayed put even as the water finally hit the ceiling, knowing that she would be told when it was possible to move. Her life was fully in the mod's hands – she just hoped she had enough oxygen to withstand the wait.

Hatter knew her friend was in trouble. She knew because there was a minute change in the feel of the ladder, something she would never have noticed outside of Desync, as Kia's trembling stopped. The girl had resigned herself, to death or to Hatter's success, but either way it meant she had to hurry. Letting Kia die there, to be washed into the ocean like a piece of broken flotsam as the tide went out… the thought of it gave her a newfound strength and as if aware of the change, the wheel finally turned and the mechanism unlocked. Unwinding her legs, Hatter climbed down the ladder since even if she could have swum it, she wasn't willing to risk letting go. Both of Kia's hands were currently fastened around the stiles so Hatter pried a set of fingers off to move one to a rung instead, gently so as the girl could understand what was going on, which she did. Satisfied that Kia was able to follow, Hatter scrambled up the ladder and into the next room, aided in a strange way by the water as it pushed her upward.

By the time Kia made it through there was no point trying to close the hatch because its integrity was already lost. And yet the rate of the rising water level had still not slowed in the slightest, meaning here was another room they could potentially get trapped in. "Up again," Hatter instructed hoarsely before Kia could even begin to make for the door she had been eying. The bulkheads would seal themselves completely the moment they were touched by water and their escape into this layer had been a margin too slow to prevent that. Thankfully, there was another ladder up, this one painted a deep red which hopefully meant the hatch above it was useable. An ounce of luck finally returning to the pair, the wheel spun easily, allowing them to bolt up and close it before even half the room had flooded.

Finally able to catch a break, the two girls just rested to restart full diffusion in their lungs; Hatter sat whilst Kia lay face down on the cold floor like discarded rag. As long as nothing else happened, they were safe here. Hatter quickly glanced around to check that the walls and roof were sound, noting with a rush of dismay that there were no upwards exits nor doors to be seen.

"Well," Kia said, rolling onto her back and staring at Hatter, "we're alive. If a bit soggy." She grinned.


	54. Past. Present. Future.

The room they found themselves trapped in wasn't particularly well-lit, only some low level lights switching on at their presence. Nor was it warm, which was Hatter's main concern - after their disastrous encounter with the ocean both she and Kia were soaked through and if they couldn't manage to raise their core temperatures soon the pair would be lost to hypothermia. Obviously she couldn't be sure thanks to the light issue, but Hatter imagined she was already seeing blue edge Kia's face as the girl lounged on the floor. Something had to be done.

Around them were plain plastic crates, stacked to the ceiling in some places but only one-high in others, making it highly likely they were in a storage unit of some sort. Shuffling to the nearest, Hatter forced it open to see if anything useful was inside and found sheaf upon sheaf of paper and card covered in fine print that she couldn't read in the dim; hopefully it was nothing important, because it was all about to be destroyed. She reached in and grabbed as much as she could, dumping it between her and Kia, which attracted the girl's attention in a flash. Observing curiously as Hatter began scrunching up individual sheets of paper, Kia hesitantly joined in and contributed to the growing mound of crumpled data or whatever it was. She was instructed to continue; the mod paused and tugged at her bandoliers so she could get to a pocket on the inner side, pulling out one of the two hat pins she stored there. It was a simple thing, ended with a dark agate bead and obviously made more for practical use than decorative. Unfortunately today's hat had been lost at some point in the rooms below and she doubted she would get it back from the sea's clutches, but even if she did it would be too ruined to use again.

"Give me your bracelet," she ordered, holding out a hand for it. Baffled, Kia complied without really giving it any thought, unclipping her Twitter device and gently placing it into Hatter's grip. "Thanks," the mod said out of sheer politeness but also apology as she stretched the whole thing flat, warping the electronics inside for good and rendering them almost unusable. Then, to make matters worse, she held tightly onto the metal bird at the middle of the band so that it wouldn't move and jammed the end of her hat pin into the seam of the casing, prying it open and gaining access to the truly important components within.

Kia picked up the backing piece that had skittered across the ground, making a mental note upon seeing the Merthyr Inc. logo engraved in the metal that she probably ought to say sorry to Evanz for letting Hatter violate the device so easily. She'd completely lost track of what it was the mod was doing, prodding around the mechanisms with the pin in a way Kia didn't think was entirely safe. When Hatter was done she held the bracelet out from herself since it was sparking intermittently and she wasn't really in the mood to be electrocuted even by a small current; she dropped it onto the pile of paper and a fire immediately flickered to life, growing at an exponential rate. Whilst Kia fed it more paper to keep the flames alive, Hatter rooted through the surrounding crates in search of something more substantial to burn, soon finding a stash of splintered synth wood that might once have been a nice desk. Thanking whomever had thought to keep the scrap, for whatever unknown reason, she brought it back to the fire and began adding it.

It wasn't until the fire had fully stabilised that Hatter took her attention away from it. Already the area was noticeably warmer and she could actually see Kia properly; the girl had taken off her coat since it was doing her no good and laid it out on the floor so the fabric might dry more quickly, positioning herself as close to the fire as she dared.

"So I guess we're not going anywhere?" Kia mused, making eye contact with her guardian for a brief moment before looking back at the flames.

"Unfortunately not." Hatter frowned. "Given where we are in the Wall and the current time... High tide is in fifty minutes so I'd say we've got a four hour wait until we can leave." That was roughly how long it would take for the room below to empty and the doors to unseal. Hatter turned and dragged one of the crates closer to the fire so that she could sit against it, removing her own coat and tossing it beside Kia's. She sighed and leant her head back until it hit the plastic of the crate. Four hours. In that time, how much damage would the take-over group do? How many hostages would be harmed? How many more lives would Hatter need to add to the never-ending list of people she had killed - directly or through negligence - that she could never hope to gain forgiveness from? Faces ran through her head, some more prominent than others, cutting deeper into the same wound over and over again. And then there was Graves, burning alive. And then… Kia. Unconscious, broken, slumped against the wall. That was the worst one, because it wasn't imagination, but memory.

She didn't even realise she had begun crying until Kia pointed it out.

"Um, Hatter?" The girl looked painfully concerned. "Are you alright? You're…" She indicated toward her eyes. "Did you want to… talk or…?"

"What? No, I'm fine." She wiped away the tears with her sleeve. "It's just sea water."

"Sure." Kia stared at the flames, seeming to be gathering the courage to say something further. "I – Can I ask you something?"

"I guess," the mod replied warily.

"It's just that - I asked Sky but she told me to hear it from you - back when we were caught in the Inducer, your nightmare was… confusing. Who was the boy? What happened?"

"That–" Saying she was stumped was an understatement.

"If you don't want to say anything then don't. Sorry I brought it up." Kia tucked her knees up to her chest, making herself look smaller and apologetic. Hatter was still processing, working out what might have caused Kia to think of such a thing now.

"No, I think you should know. I mean, everyone else knows. Well, some of them." She placed a hand over her face, rubbing at her eyes. Parts of her felt cold at the thought of it all, and it was something even the hottest of fires couldn't have remedied. Kia had looked up at the acceptance, obviously trying to appear only slightly interested in what was to be said but failing at keeping the excitement out of her gaze. "That boy… It – he – was Downfall. We met when we were twelve." An odd masochistic part of her wanted to laugh at that, thinking about how long ago it was. "He went by a different name of course, but I can't…"

"You don't have to," Kia said, trying to comfort her.

"Yes, well… when it came to Downfall I couldn't really think all that clearly. On my thirteenth birthday he gave me a necklace, and I didn't even think twice about taking it. Now, my father worked for the central office, and I had been bragging to Downfall for months that he was going to let me see the main core for my birthday." The heart of every scraper, the core lay at Levels 79 to 81 and supported the entire structure, every iota of information and data passing through it ensuring things ran smoothly. At the time, the core (with its restricted access and vital nature) had seemed the greatest thing of all eternity to her, though now she knew it was just one of many. "So I met my father and went to see the core… I figure proximity must have activated the necklace because it corrupted everything there. And I mean _everything_. The scraper went into lockdown, and whatever program was in that stupid piece of rock changed the access code, so even Danni couldn't open the thing again."

Kia's mouth was gaping. She knew what happened during a lockdown: Hatter had explained before. It wasn't a simple case of the Queen not arriving immediately to let rescue teams in and civilians out, but a situation where the lockdown ran its full, horrific course.

The mod continued after taking a deep breath to steady her voice. "When we understood what had happened dad and I went to my mother. I told you she worked in medicine, didn't I? She had clearance to bypass security in the hospital so she barricaded the three of us into the oxygen storeroom. We were in there for over a week." She stared down at her hands, which were lying dead on her lap and murmured, "Do you know what it's like to see full tanks become empty one by one? To hear the crying outside the door of people asking to be let in but not being able to help because you don't know how much of the oxygen you'll need? Do you know," her hands tightened into balls and she could see her nails digging into the palms of her hands, close to drawing blood, but didn't feel it, "what it's like to see your _parents_ dying in front of you because they insist you use their share of oxygen? To see them reach a point where they become happy again because they're suffocating but don't know it anymore? To sit with their bodies for _days_ and not care because you're dying too?"

Silence. Silence as Kia struggled for words. Silence as Hatter did her best to compose herself.

"When I woke up again, everything was different. I found that my perception of the world around me was warped thanks to brain damage. Then Fluke was there, and he told me what had happened. 251,792 people dead, one survivor. Downfall had already left the scraper before the lockdown and was on the loose, but Fluke knew where to find him – a criminal group known as Open Empire."

Their eyes met and Kia wondered if it was okay to say something now. Probably not.

"I was told that if I worked hard then I could help take them out. I didn't know what else to do so I accepted; it gave me a purpose, something to work toward, to keep my mind off of… other things. Fluke sponsored me through mercenary training and I managed to complete it in half a year." Kia didn't need to know about the hours upon hours of wrestling with a broken sense of time and how she'd run herself to the rocks refining it into the Desync ability she had today. "Then, we went after Open Empire. I captured Disasterwound personally, and both he and Downfall were imprisoned. I was content with that, and kept working for Fluke. He saved me. They all did. So if there's one thing I can do with this life I shouldn't still have, it's repay them."

She tilted her head back to look at the ceiling, darkened by smoke from the fire, and sighed. Kia got the feeling that she could talk again now. "So… isn't it a good thing that Downfall is gone now?"

"No. Well, yes." Hatter paused, trying to think about how to phrase it in a way the girl would understand. "No. In dying, he won. I'll never know who he actually was, or why he did what he did. Before, there was always hope he would talk about it one day, but now? There's no chance."

"Oh." Kia glanced at her feet, then reached for a long piece of the fractured wood and used it to prod at the fire, taking care not to get any splinters. "Is this why you hate Open so much? Why you are working so hard to destroy them?"

"Part of it, I suppose. Though they are dangerous in their own right, so I'd be getting rid of them anyway."

"I guess their leader had better watch out then."

"Certainly." The conversation had reached a standstill so Hatter rummaged through her thoughts for anything to say. "So, you look tired," she commented eventually, affixing a light-hearted tone to the sentence even though she felt far from it.

"So do you," Kia countered, flashing a sly grin. "Why don't you sleep? I'll wake you up in two hours and we'll swap."

Hatter was a little taken aback at how the girl was acting, too used to being the one looking out for the wellbeing of them both. Kia handing out thinly veiled orders was peculiar, but somehow the mod didn't mind it. "Sounds good," she agreed, allowing Kia to take the position of guardian for once. Snatching up her coat she folded and lay her head on it, trying to ignore the dampness of the material. Tiredness quickly filled her body now that she let it, and she hoped vehemently for a dreamless sleep.


	55. Ashes

"Hatter? Hatter, wake up."

The mod felt her body being shaken gently so she opened her eyes, meeting with Kia's obviously exhausted ones as the girl leant over her. Stretching, Hatter sat up; she had only been asleep for two hours but that was enough for her so she shook the drowsiness off and straightened out her coat, finding it dry in some places but still damp in others. Her clothes would have some noticeable creases in them for the foreseeable future too, but it wasn't something worth fixing. "Time to swap, huh?" she asked, not really needing the answer.

Kia nodded. "So if you don't mind, I'll be sleeping now."

"Sure. I'll wake you up when we need to go."

"Thanks." Smiling weakly, Kia settled herself with her back to a row of crates, following Hatter's example and using her coat as a pillow. Within seconds of lying down Kia was out like a light and the mod was left alone to add a few more pieces of destroyed desk to the fire.

In order to keep awake, Hatter sat on the top of a crate rather than the floor since it was less likely she'd drop off without noticing. Methodically, she checked each and every one of the capsules in her bandoliers, separating out the ones that were ruined by seawater from the ones still functional and sorting them into appropriate sections in the leather carrier. Once that was done she mused about what hat she would get to replace the one she had lost earlier, then started braiding her hair in the most complex ways she knew how. It was difficult now that her hair was shorter but the challenge of it was enjoyable.

Menial distractions could only last so long, and Hatter soon found herself with nothing to keep her mind off of the sick feeling in her stomach, a remnant of the nightmare she'd had. The exact details of the dream escaped her but she could guess what it had been about, given the conversation with Kia earlier. The mod passed a hand over her eyes with a sigh, trying to force herself to think of other things and failing quite miserably. She was plagued by imaginary sensations, like the horrific wailing of the scraper core as it shut down, and the chill of her father's hand as he refused any more oxygen in his final hope that their daughter would survive even if they didn't. Those days when she had no alias and was simply 'Morgan', with few cares other than about who might be at school the next week. She missed it.

That was a lie, she realised as she glanced at her companion. At least, partially a lie. Sure, her life had been easy, but if that Morgan had persisted then what would have happened to Kia? Who would have been on Ground Level at that exact time and place, if not Hatter? Would Kia be dead, or worse? One tiny life saved in comparison to thousands lost, a disproportionate balance that somehow made things seem better. The possibility of saving someone else her pain... that was why Hatter was still a moderator. She forgot that sometimes. Good thing she had Kia to remind her.

As if picking up on her guardian's thoughts, Kia smiled in her sleep. The focus on the girl allowed Hatter to indirectly notice something she hadn't before. The crates in the area behind her looked misplaced, as if hurriedly moved from one stack to another. One in particular caught the mod's eye as it was ajar, lid raised by the edge of some fabric left in the join. The sight didn't match the neat order of the room, but it wasn't drastic enough to attract attention unless one were looking for it – or were extremely bored – which explained why Hatter hadn't noticed it before. She stood, quietly padding toward the suspect crate and making as little sound as she could in order to not wake Kia, though usually after an hour of slumber the girl was completely out of it. Positioning herself on the other side of the stack so as not to lean over the prone form of her companion, Hatter removed the lid entirely.

She actually took a step back in surprise before examining the contents more closely to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. The crate was a large one, but it was almost impossible to believe that there were two human bodies inside of it, packed in tightly and yet with just enough room to breathe. At least, she assumed they were human, since their current state was… appalling. After all she'd seen Hatter still found that she had to cover her nose with her sleeve to stop from gagging at the stench of burnt flesh emanating from the bodies, which had been contained within the box until she opened it but was now rolling out in vile waves that she feared might actually wake Kia. Quickly checking the girl for any response, Hatter found none and thanked everything for her ability to sleep through the worst of events.

"What on _Earth_ is going on here?" the mercenary murmured, turning back to the corpses. It was hard to tell from their charred state but they appeared to be somewhere around her own age, one male and one female. The male had been more badly hit by whatever had burnt them, his entire being an angry mottled red, his face fused into one surface that meant even if he had survived he would never have seen again. It was what remained of his clothes that had been trapped between the walls and lid of the crate. His counterpart was in a marginally better state, her muscle structure still holding some integrity though every part of her was pitted and blackened from smoke too. What they were doing up here Hatter could only guess, concluding that they must have reached this state at some point after the take-over or else they would have received medical care.

"Y-ou…"

Hatter was ashamed to say she jumped at the sound, a croaking address issuing from the female's mouth. She was still alive! "Yes?" the mod replied, both eager and anxious.

"You came back… for us…"

Obviously she had been mistaken for an acquaintance of theirs. "I did," Hatter played along, hoping that she might garner some information from the woman before her inevitable death. It wasn't that Hatter didn't _want_ to help, but that she honestly couldn't – even if she were able to carry the bodies out now it would take far too long to get to the hospital, which meant giving up on saving them was the only option.

"Take… Pyro first…" Her voice was faint and laboured, lungs exsiccated by the heat of their demise. "He needs help… more than me…" She weakly jerked her arm that rested under his head, nudging him in Hatter's direction. The mod stared at the broken form of this 'Pyro', wondering if he had had something to do with why they were both charcoal, given his name. It was an alias, most likely, meaning the pair had initially been up to no good, yet she still couldn't find it in herself to tell the woman that there was no way her friend was still alive. The way his body had moved stated clearly that rigor mortis had set in at least six hours ago.

"What happened?" she asked, changing the conversation and hoping that the girl was deluded enough to just go with it, which she did, making an attempt at a laugh and failing miserably.

"He panicked… overzealous… you know what he's like, Boss…"

"Boss?"

"Are we not… supposed to call you that… anymore? Should I… call you 'R' like Executive… Jessi does when he isn't… paying attention?"

Hatter found herself unable to respond to that, though part of her mind unhelpfully filed away a state of being impressed by the woman's joking tone even as she faded. 'R'? Surely it couldn't be _that_ R? The leader of Open? Was it possible that she had managed to stumble across two of the very group she'd been searching for so hard over the past few months, or was it just coincidence? "Call me whatever you like. Why are you here?"

"Did you win yet?" the woman replied, completely ignoring Hatter's question.

"Yes," the mod answered, brusque and somewhat impatient. Something in the way she'd said it struck a bad chord with the bounty hunter and what was left of her face furrowed, labouring to turn her head and look at Hatter.

"You aren't… the Boss…" she said in anger as she processed Hatter's appearance. "How… _dare_ you? What have you done?" Somehow she found just enough power within herself to raise the volume of her voice to a normal level, and then into the realm of shouting. "Boss… R… Boss! _Boss!"_

Kia stirred. Hatter froze. Her mind raced with ways to quieten the distressed woman but, thankfully, the noise dropped as suddenly as it had started as her vocal chords snapped from the strain, leaving only the option of silently moving her mouth and glaring as best as she could at Hatter. The mercenary wondered if she'd even realised that she wasn't producing sound anymore. It was doubtful.

Unable to take any more of this, Hatter forcefully ignored the wordless ranting and instead reached toward the male, Pyro, pulling a piece of metal away from his lapel along with a scrap of fabric attached to it. She replaced the lid of the crate, blocking out her view of the soon-to-be-two corpses, and took a mental note of where the box was in the room, fully intending to come back for the bodies once she had finished with whoever had organised the take-over of the Outer Wall. Clearly it had not been Open, and she ran through possible reasons why the accursed group had been there instead, rolling the metal pin that might have once been the logo between her fingers. Then she dropped it into an empty compartment of her bandoliers and checked the time.

Just under an hour to go.


	56. Ocean Bliss

"Are you ready?" Hatter asked, crouched by the hatch with her hands already on the wheel.

"Yes," came the reply, Kia shrugging on her dried coat in preparation. In an effort to get the kinks out of her muscles she pulled both her arms backwards and then up, taking the perfect amount of time and returning to neutral stance just as Hatter's hand cleared the top rung as the mod climbed down. Cautiously, she followed; the metal was still wet and hard to gain good purchase on so progress was slow, but eventually the pair was able to stand next to each other, surrounded by chaotic piles of furnishings that had been dumped haphazardly by the falling tide. Nearby was the hatch they had had to leave open during their flight and Kia, peering down into it, could only see black as the sea prevented any light from shining through.

Hatter had calculated the time cleanly, so although the layer below was still flooded the room they were currently in only had a thin film of puddles that made footsteps sound slightly strange. She headed to the northward door and was pleased to see that it had sufficiently dried out and was unsealed, then proceeded to turn the wheel and open it. A wave of salted air gusted through the portal, startling both Hatter and Kia in equal measure. Sending a silent 'stay back' signal to her companion, the mod stepped through to the next room - or, what was left of it. For the first half it looked completely normal, albeit with all the tables shoved against the walls, but then the wall fractured, crumbling away to a gaping hole directly to the outside world. The opposite wall was also gone, door included, leaving a thin strip of floor for the length of several more rooms.

"What on Earth...?" Hatter muttered to herself, astounded by the destruction wrought by whatever bomb had been set off there. Whilst the innards of the Outer Wall were far from explosion-proof, the exterior surface should not have shattered as it had. It was too dark to actually see but she imagined the translucent crystalline layer that coated the seawall, marred by stress flaws in a way it never had been before. It was the strongest naturally occurring material, secreted by the genetically engineered coral colonies that had populated the walls of all the cities since long before any record, making it one of the world's greatest phenomena. No normal explosion should have been able to damage it, and certainly not to the extent she was currently observing.

"Woah." Hatter's head snapped around at the exclamation to see Kia stepping through the door, eyes fixated by the destruction. "What happened here?"

"That's what I was wondering. Didn't I tell you to wait?"

"You never actually said it, so no." Kia smirked at the loophole. "But seriously, what do we do now? Find another way through?"

Hatter sighed and rubbed the back of her head as she thought. "If only. There's no guarantee that we'll be able to find a way through on the lower layers, and I don't want to risk the water spreading." She glanced at the strip of floor that still remained. "It's best to continue this way."

"You have to be kidding me!" Kia stared at her, astounded. "We're going to walk on _that_?"

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall."

"Whether or not you'll let me, I'm certain the world will find a way!"

"Are you saying the world is capable of defeating me?"

"I- well- that's not-"

Hatter smirked as the girl struggled to find what she wanted to say, spewing a bundle of garbled words. The mod was glad that, despite the situation, they were still able to share a joke; she hadn't burdened Kia with the knowledge that there were two corpses in a crate behind her and with any luck she would be able to keep it that way. It wasn't something a novice could handle. Besides, she still wasn't entirely convinced of Kia's stability after what had happened to Graves, and it wasn't like the attack here was helping any.

"Do you trust me?"

Kia stopped midsentence, thrown by the sudden change in tone. Slowly, she closed her hanging mouth and gazed up at her guardian. "Yes."

Hatter smiled. "Then keep close." Without further chance for arguing she headed toward the damaged side of the room with calm, measured paces. She slowed as she stepped onto the strip, slick with sea spray, sounding out its integrity with the touch of her feet. What remained of the floor was still strong enough to support both of them at once so she beckoned the hesitant Kia over, treading forward herself to make room. The first few metres would be the hardest as the fear of falling was foremost in the girl's mind, but it would eventually give way in favour of concentration. If asked, Hatter wouldn't lie about being afraid too, but apparently it hadn't occurred to Kia that she might feel the same as her. The mercenary winced as a slab of flooring fell out from where she'd just been standing, taking a moment to enter the water below with a quiet splash.

Nothing about this situation was ideal. The strip curved thinner as it traced the edge of the blast radius and the pair soon found that sidestepping was more appropriate than just walking. Judging by the destruction around them, Hatter deduced that the bomb must have gone off two rooms north of and on the same layer as where they had been when the interior had begun flooding. It was a dangerous level of damage but what she couldn't fathom was why there was only one detonation site. Surely the take-over group was in possession of more of the weapon since there was no reason someone would carry that level of power unless they meant to breach the wall completely, and yet the job was only half done. It couldn't have been an accident either, since there wasn't a human on the planet idiotic enough to be careless around something so dangerous.

"It sure is something, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" Distracted, Hatter was suddenly brought back to the present by Kia's absent comment. They were midway along the strip, backs pressed to the wall with only three quarters of a metre’s width to stand on. The ocean lay before them, perfectly framed by the camber of devastation as it roiled beneath the deluge of rain, crashing against the innards of the wall as it never should be able somewhere beneath them. To their right the extended wall of the weather station peered into view, signalling just how close they were getting to their target. The duo were aware of the howling wind frothing the waves with white but were sheltered from its effects in the man-made bay of silence, allowing them to still communicate. The water seemed to go on forever, fusing seamlessly with the Misted sky at the horizon and enveloping them in an illusionary quilt of greys. Kia was gazing out at the unknown expanse, transfixed, and Hatter honestly couldn't tell if she was terrified or awed by the sight. For her, it was a little too close for comfort, slightly too real and irrefutable. "I suppose so."

"I wonder what's out there. Like, if you just started sailing, what might you find?" She was deep in thought and it almost seemed like the questions were directed at someone else than Hatter, despite her being the only other living being there.

"Given the direction, America."

"You _know_ what I _mean_."

"I'm not sure I do. There's nothing out there Kia, nothing but water and cities. You won't find enormous creatures or land above sea level or Atlantis or whatever. There's no reason to go out there by yourself."

Kia looked sideways at her guardian, a strange expression on her face. "Would you keep going please?"

"Right." Hatter began to move again, unable to shake the feeling that she'd just failed at something, one of Kia's odd little tests she couldn't help but set as a qualification of sorts. Still, it wasn't the right thing to be focussed on right now.

It took them less time to traverse the second half of the strip than it had the first, acclimatised to the constant concern that one of them would fall and be smashed to a bloody pulp by the waves. As the mod waited for Kia to take the last few steps off of the strip she glanced back at how far they'd gone, noting that there was a definite bow in the remaining floor warning her that attempting to cross again would spell the end. Finally on safer ground, she was a lot more content than before. Hatter headed to the northern door of the room they were now in (though since there were only two walls to it its status as a room was under severe question) but before she could even touch the wheel it started to turn, setting off alarm bells in her head. There was nowhere to hide and certainly no option to flee so the moment the door itself swung open the mod propelled her way through it, grabbing the collar of the mystery encounter and dragging him to the wall, slamming his head roughly against it with enough force to startle him. The man flinched at the motion but was unable to fight it, caught off-guard.

The intimidating face Hatter had plastered on crumbled into one of confusion as she looked at him properly and realised that the man wasn't one of the take-over group but was, in fact, someone she knew. "Lewis?" she queried, though she would be able to recognise him anywhere.

"Hi," was the simple reply. "Uh, do you mind…?" His eye flicked down to where her fist was still twisted into his shirt and she let go apologetically, stepping back and allowing him some room to move away from the wall. He straightened his clothes and then smiled. "So, long time no see, Morgan. How long's it been, exactly?"

"Three years." Hatter was aware of Kia padding closer, the girl's curiosity radiating out from her in an immensely unsubtle manner. "Kia, this is Lewis. Lewis, this is Kia." She gestured to each in turn, giving them the chance to size each other up and relaxing as they seemed to accept one another.

Then Lewis frowned, leaning forward to get a better look at the girl. "Do I know you?"

"Uhhh…" She glanced at Hatter questioningly, then back to the stranger, stepping back marginally as he got a tad too close for her liking. "No, we've never met."

"Really? But I'm certain I recognise you…"

"I honestly don't–"

Before she could finish her sentence Lewis's eyes widened in comprehension and he clapped his hands together once to signal success. "Oh! It's you! You're _her_!"


	57. Reasons

Lewis crossed his arms and nodded his head proudly at his recognition, then proceeded to not elaborate. Kia stared at him blankly, honestly having no clue who he was or how he knew her - or how he knew Hatter, for that matter. Obviously they had been acquainted for a long while given that he hadn't referred to her by the codename everyone else used; scanning him up and down for clues, Kia found answers when she caught sight of something on the collar of the dark grey, military flak jacket he wore. It was a small golden button marked with a familiar pattern, the same as her guardian, as Mez. Lewis was a mercenary.

"Do you mind explaining?" Hatter requested, not bothering to hide the fact that she was peeved because of her colleague's habit of being overly vague. In truth, what little had already been said fascinated her, or, rather, presented an opportunity to learn more about Kia's circumstances than the girl knew, since any information he had about her would be from before the friends met (Kia's presence in the public eye had been strictly monitored following the realisation that they were tied together by the unconventional pseuvi). Lewis had always had remarkable ability to remember the faces of people met in passing, so whilst she didn't doubt that Kia didn't know who he was she also understood that he wasn't lying either.

"Oh right. It was two – three? - months ago," Lewis recalled. "I was working a security job down on Ground Level when a bunch of bounty hunters went by. She was with them."

"And you didn't go to help her?" Even as she asked that question Hatter knew it was a stupid thing to say. What could he have possibly done? He wasn't qualified for combat, not to mention the legality of him helping was suspect.

"No, I would have outstepped my contract," Lewis replied, giving the answer she had expected. Breaching contract was taboo for a mercenary, since one strike was all it took to lose their status - a mercenary contract was an honoured thing, and any party that broke it had their name dragged through mud. "Besides, it wasn't like they were hurting her."

"Perhaps not right then, but who's to say what would have happened afterwards?" She wasn't sure why she was so irritated by his perfectly reasonable lack of action. Unlike most of her colleagues, Hatter's terms of service were vague enough that she could help practically anyone out when she saw the need to so the concept of just staying put was an uneasy one for her.

"Hatter, don't get mad," Kia chimed in, smiling lightly to alleviate the scowl on her guardian's face. "It all worked out in the end. Besides, if he _had_ helped me then I never would have met _you_." With one final grumble the mod let her discontent settle, aware that she was being the most unreasonable of the three of them. "That aside, how do you two know each other?" Discerning that they were both in the same line of business didn't completely help Kia to work out their relation, since Hatter must have met hundreds of mercenaries in her time.

Giving in to the curious look on the girl's face, despite it not being the most opportune time, Hatter answered. "Lewis and I were in the same Class. He helped me pass the general exam. But, like I said, we haven't seen each other for three years now."

"Oh right," he chuckled, shifting his weight onto his back foot as mirth plastered his face. "The Smaragdine Incident! Now _that_ was crazy."

"You what?"

"It doesn't matter," Hatter hurriedly cut in, not wanting to go into a story that could take days. "Seriously Lewis, why are you here?"

He pulled a face, one that Hatter recognised as him being uncertain about some of the details he was recalling. "Here? At the Wall? I got a job a couple of weeks back to keep an eye on the place. The guy was sure something was about to go down here, and I guess he was right. Mind you," he frowned, "I'm not really sure why he hired me. It was like he knew everything I told him anyway so I can't imagine why he wasted the money. Not that I'm complaining, of course. Never one to turn down my next meal."

Kia was amused by the simple fact of how alike the pair were, watching Hatter's frown return in sympathy with her colleague's. The mod, however, was far from delight about it all, picking up the pieces she had been given, examining them closely and then trying to place them into the larger puzzle. Lewis's specialisation was Information, so it made sense that someone had sent him to gather data on the Outer Wall; that in itself wasn't odd, but if the client already knew what was going to happen then there was a definite point of interest for her. Something in Hatter's gut told her she was close to an answer, or that perhaps she already knew and didn't realise, so she followed her instinct and asked, "Who hired you?"

Lewis blinked in surprise, understandably so. It wasn't every day he was asked to divulge such details, and in fact he would usually consider it quite rude. "I'm not sure I should…" He thought about it. "You know, I wasn't actually made to agree to a confidentiality statement… Alright then, it was some guy called Figit."

Hatter stared.

Kia stared.

Kia's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"You- Figit? _Figit_ hired you?" Hatter spluttered, attempting to appear somewhat more composed than her ward but not quite managing.

"Yeah? What, have I missed something?"

The mod's eyes widened as she realised. She reached out and gripped both of Lewis's upper arms, forcing him to look at her as she stared him down. "Figit hired you. You made a contract with Figit. _You know what he looks like._ "

"Um, yes, I do." It was a legal requirement that any contract made had to have at least one face-to-face meeting, or else it was void. "He was sort of, I don't know, your age? Blond, Welsh maybe. A slight bit overenthusiastic. I can't really remember."

Sparse clues, but clues nonetheless. Hatter filed them away for future examination as she let Lewis go, the man pulling at the sleeves of his thermal to straighten out where they'd rucked up at her force. Beside them, Kia started like she'd just emerged from some waking-dream. "I get it," she muttered. "I get it!" she repeated, louder this time so she could actually be heard. "Lewis, why are you here? Here at this room in particular? Did you just happen to come this way?"

He was a little thrown by her excitement but answered immediately. "No, I actually followed some directions on the screens around this place. It's a little dubious but to be quite honest I was willing to try anything if it meant getting out of here."

"That's him! That's Figit! It makes sense now!" Kia clapped her hands together.

"It does?"

"What have you got, Kia?" Hatter asked, intrigued. The girl was clearly on to something, even if Lewis was now completely lost. If they just gave him a minute then he'd catch up - she remembered that, though he took a while to get started, Lewis collated every piece of information he'd experienced incredibly quickly, even if the material had just been a passing comment.

"Right, so, there's been an attack here at the Outer Wall, an attack we wouldn't have heard of for a good few days I'd wager, what with all the chaos in the city right now. And Figit knows it's going to happen, but he doesn't know _when_. You following?" At a nod from Hatter and a slightly hesitant one from Lewis, she continued. "So what happens when someone needs to fix things? He contacts us, through my Twitter, of course. Only, he predicts that when he needs to, he won't be able to." To emphasise her point, she held up her left wrist, which looked painfully bare now it no longer bore the handcuff or bracelet, the latter of which had been left in pieces on top of a crate Hatter had wanted to keep marked in the storage room. "He can't even hijack Juke because of the storm. And what's a mysterious benefactor going to do when he needs to tell us stuff but can't? He gets someone else to talk for him."

She gestured with both hands toward Lewis, who pointed at himself in turn. "I see," Hatter commented, understanding Kia's point. "He's still able to direct _you_ even though you don't carry Twitter, so he makes sure you've got what we need to have - information." She didn't mention the fact that it wasn't coincidence Lewis had been chosen. After being a mod for so long, she didn't believe in 'coincidence', as it were. He had been selected because Figit knew she wouldn't have trusted anyone else giving them the details, but someone would have to do some serious research to discover any substantial link between the two mercenaries, particularly since they hadn’t made a habit of conversing over the past few years. It was unnerving how much the enigmatic Figit knew about her - about all of them - while they knew barely anything about him. After this, she would get Lewis to identify him in an image and then the real research could begin.

"So," Kia continued, nodding, "here we are. Hatter, ready to fight but without any knowledge of the situation, and Lewis knowing everything that's happened in the last few weeks. I think it's time to pool our resources."

"Sounds reasonable to me," Lewis replied. "But do you think we could go to the next room to talk about this? I mean, maybe you forgot but it is a _bit_ breezy out here." As if to agree with him the storm picked up, wind curling around into the little haven they were in, even the weakened fingertips of its vicious grasp strong enough to make it feel like someone had just thrown sewing needles at them all. Envious of Lewis's thermals, Kia's face gritted slightly as she looked to Hatter for the answer. One brusque nod had them all scrambling for the door, intent on finding a room that didn't have holes in it; unfortunately, the first room had an obnoxious gap in its ceiling, but the second was secure, give or take a few light perforations. Upon checking it was suitable, the three of them grabbed stools and pulled them together, Hatter's face turning down as she realised it was another one of those labs she distrusted so much. "So, what do you need to know?" Lewis asked, eyes flitting between the two girls sitting opposite him.

"First off, who's the one behind all this?" Hatter asked, keeping part of her mind focussed on the time so that they didn't dally too long.

"Oh that's an easy one," the mercenary replied swiftly. "It's TTG."


	58. Team

"That can't be right?" Hatter frowned, face darkening at the terrorist group's name. "Curaxu and Someguy were supposed to be handling that. TTG couldn't _possibly_ still exist."

"Well, technically, they don't," Lewis continued, baffling both girls with the confusing statement. "I mean, it's sort of just one guy - BadAssComs. From what I gather he's been trying to resurrect the group."

"From what you gather? You didn't think to report this to anyone before now?" Hatter said incredulously.

"Oh right. Well it wasn't like he was having much success. Maybe he got a few of the old members back in but basically he's had a hard time getting people. TTG is dead and everyone knows it but him."

The mod rubbed her face in exasperation. "It doesn't matter if it's just a few people, that's still enough to cause trouble. Obviously." A sigh. "So, he's desperate, and then comes the best distraction he could have hoped for," her thoughts turned to the shattered scrapers of District 12 for a brief moment before she pulled away from it, "and he jumps at the opportunity. But what is he after?"

"I... I think I might know," Kia contributed, plainly hesitant about what she had to say but that only made Hatter more certain that whatever she proposed would be right. The girl turned to her guardian to explain. "Do you remember that you made me study criminal organisations?"

"How could I forget?" It hadn't slipped her mind that that research had been what enabled Kia to identify the TTG member at Evanz's launch party, allowing them to save the lives of everyone there, excluding the attacker of course.

"Well, every TTG record was a bomb attack. I thought it was just a signature thing, you know, but what if it was more? They were always using experimental technology - weapons they couldn't possibly have known would work, and a lot of the time they didn't. But why wouldn't they settle with a bomb that worked in order to demolish whatever their next target would be? It's pretty obvious once you think about it."

"They were testing the effectiveness of the bombs," Hatter realised. "Still, why?"

Kia rolled her eyes. "They weren't looking at the area of effect, but the _damage force_. TTG needed to destroy something stronger than a skyscraper."

Lewis quickly cut in with the answer Kia had been about to reveal, but she found she didn't actually mind the glory being stolen from her. "The Wall. They wanted to break the Outer Wall and flood the city."

"As much as I'd like to say that it will never happen, we've all seen the giant hole back there." Kia jabbed at the direction they'd come from with her thumb.

"I don't know how we never saw that before..." Even as Hatter uttered the sentence she knew it wasn't quite true. The mods, the police, Rage, Hollow - no one had _bothered_ trying to work out the motives of a group that was already closed. "You're quite the perceptive one today, Kia."

The girl nodded shallowly, recognising Hatter's oddly-worded form of praise. "What can I say: it's one of my better days."

"Yes." After a second, the mod wiped the automatic smile that had appeared of off her face. "Still, three questions remain. First - what is the bomb this 'BadAssComs' has? Lewis?"

The mercenary shook his head. "Not a clue. I have no record of something this powerful."

"Pity. We'll have to go in blind on that one." Her brow furrowed in a way that Kia knew meant she was planning out an attack. "Second - why hasn't he already used the bomb again? If it's so strong, why the delay?" Figuring from the scale of the damaged they had just passed through, two detonations were all it would take to breach the sea barrier. That meant that the explosion she and Kia had experienced in the late evening yesterday had been the only one so far.

"Oh right, I think I know this," Lewis chimed, a degree too brightly for the situation. "I overheard some of the bounty hunters, talking about a charge time of six hours. Didn't know what they were talking about and didn't want to stick around for any longer to find out, but my guess is that this bomb has a cooldown."

"Six hours? If that's true then we only have a little over one hour left." Hatter's mouth pulled left. "Okay, and third - where is he?"

"I know that one too!"

"Wow, Figit's setup is actually working," Kia muttered, more for her own amusement than anything else.

"BadAssComs has holed up at the weather station. I was there when he first arrived but managed to sneak out when they started herding hostages in. Figured someone needed to sound the alert."

Hatter pondered the information, sifting it and applying it to different aspects of the rudimentary plan she had floating in her mind. "At least we're close then. If the base of operations is the weather station, that explains why this storm has gone on longer than it should have; he's using it to jam communications from people like us."

Lewis nodded, then made a gesture with both his hands to bring focus to his next remark. "But it seems too opportunistic, doesn't it? And practically everyone in his 'team' is a bounty hunter. He's desperate, and rushing things."

"All the better for us. How are his hires spread?"

"Concentrated, on him. A few patrols, but they're lax. Fifth-type."

Kia tuned out as the pair continued to exchange words. It was a strange feeling; she knew they were using English, but somehow Hatter was interpreting a completely different meaning from what both girls heard, each syllable having a significance that Kia couldn't quite comprehend. They fit together, like the gears of a clock fit, to produce a seamless cooperation that they must have developed during their training four years prior. In Hatter's eyes, Lewis was her equal and, having paid attention to everything he had said, Kia thought she could understand why her guardian trusted him without question. Lewis never pretended to be anything he wasn't, never claimed that he would have helped Kia escape her captors if he had the chance to, adhering to his contract at all times. He wasn't incompetent, nor arrogant, and had no ulterior motive in the way that both Hatter and Mez did. He was the paradigm of a mercenary.

Noticing that Hatter was nodding in a way that meant she had finished concocting her plan, Kia began to listen again. "Right," the mod stated, with a tone made specifically for ordering people around, "this is what we're going to do."

*=LINE=*

It was crazy. They were all going to get killed. Why was Hatter letting her do this? It was a death sentence.

Of course Kia knew it wasn't really, and she had every faith in her friend's plan, but that didn't change the fact that she was nervous. They had reached the weather station now, its enlarged area jutting out into the ocean beyond the usual width of the Wall, an expansion that was necessary to house all the equipment inside. The first door had actually been unguarded, surprisingly, but now they were crouched on either side of the entrance from the hallway to the building proper, watching a pair of unremarkable bounty hunters as one played a card game with himself and the other was reading a book, neither of them facing the door directly but still able to see anyone walk through it when they looked up from their respective entertainments. Lewis and Kia were on one side of the opening and stayed deathly still as Hatter slinked in, crouched low and obviously very practised at what she was doing. There was a faraway look in her eyes that meant she had Desynced, a fact which was only made more clear by how fast she was when she finally pounced, leaping up and wrapping her arm around one of their necks.

Keeping a tight pressure on the card-player's throat meant Hatter's attention was divided, but that didn't stop her from being able to land a kick on the second man's jaw as he threw aside the book and lunged at her. He swore and reeled backward, tripping over his own feet and crashing to the ground. Dazed by the collision, he was left moaning on the floor just long enough for his companion to pass out. Hatter dropped the limp body she was supporting and headed to the other man, pinning him down with the weight of her body and clamping a hand across his nose and mouth until he too lost consciousness. Glancing around furtively, she indicated for her companions to move forward once she knew the coast was clear. Now they were in the antechamber, and a double door that looked like the ones found in the scrapers (but stronger) nestled on the other side of the floor. It would lead them into the main operation centre, which was where the hostages would probably be, and the rest of the bounty hunters, and BadAssComs. The trio took up the same breach positions again – both mercenaries managed to cross the room with a stealthy crabbing motion whilst Kia shuffled clumsily in a crouch, imitating the best she was able. Up to this point their paths were the same, their goal not to alert anyone in the main room. Now, that changed.

Hatter stood and slammed her hand on the 'open' button in a way that was very uncharacteristic of her. She sauntered into the room and immediately locked eyes with a gaunt man who whirled around in a panic upon noticing her enter. His eyes widened, and flickered over to one of the bounty hunters near her, whom Hatter quickly put out of commission with swift kick to his groin that left him whimpering on the ground. "Why hello there," she greeted, keeping her speech smooth and directing it toward the man still staring at her, who was obviously BadAssComs. She began to advance through the room with slow, measured steps, running a hand along the surfaces she passed. "I'm sure you can take a pretty good guess as to whom I work for right now, and yet you haven't run away. I wonder if that's wise." She picked up a clipboard that was resting on top of a computer and, as she came in line with another hunter, held it flat and threw it at them sideways, the stiff board cracking into their nose and – from the sounds of things – breaking it. "Now, mind telling me exactly what it is you think you're doing here?"

Lewis waited until he was certain Hatter had the focus of the whole room, hostages included. The civilians were all seated on the far right of the room, kept in check by four guards and huddling in both fear and confusion. One or two were tied up, probably having tried to escape, but Lewis couldn't care less at that point. That wasn't his job.

Keeping any work counters and tables between him and the prying eyes of, well, anyone, the mercenary slunk around the edge of the room, skirting anything that might possibly alert someone to his presence. If he was caught he was done for; he hadn't trained to fight, so he'd be defeated easily. His greatest weapon was his stealth which, thankfully, his Information specialisation had actually included in training. Gaze locked on his target, he saw to his dismay that just before the final stint to the control panel there stood a bounty hunter, and a hefty one at that. Silently cursing, Lewis settled back on his haunches and waited for a better moment.

Kia was alone. For some insane reason, Hatter had thought it best to let the girl decide which moment was best for her to start her job and as such she was hesitating, wondering over and over if she'd already missed her window of opportunity despite Lewis only starting out a few seconds earlier. As she saw something fly straight into a hunter's face she shifted forward automatically, seeing his companions all take a precautionary step toward the source of his misfortune and away from her goal. She squeezed her eyelids shut and steeled herself, then snuck into the room, hiding behind a cabinet and peering around it to see what happened next.

"You can't stop me," BadAssComs stated, defiant and yet lacking conviction in his own words.

Hatter rolled her eyes. "You think so?" She beckoned over another one of the bounty hunters who was staring her down. The idiot accepted the challenge and, unsurprisingly, wound up incapacitated on the floor. Already a fear was beginning to generate in the room, which was exactly what she had hoped for with this flashy show of her power. In truth, Hatter wasn't actually sure she'd cope if they all attacked at once, not whilst she had to worry about civilians getting injured in the process. "So you're trying to blow up the Wall, huh? As accomplishments go, that is a pretty decent one."

"I will do it."

"I'm sure. Oh wait, you can only do that _after_ your weapon charges, by which time I'll already have this room under my control."

"I didn't bring only one weapon, you fool!"

She sighed at how obvious he was being, catching the arm of the bounty hunter who had attempted to sneak up on her. Still with a grip on his arm she twisted around, wrenching the bone of his shoulder from its socket. On this particular man's hand there was a sleek looking metal gauntlet that must have been the weapon referred to, so she pulled it off of him. Something about it was familiar, but it wasn't until she saw a cylindrical slot on the side of it that she knew the reason why. ' _How dare you!'_ she wanted to shout, comprehending the technology in its entirety. Outwardly, she kept calm, still pacing toward BadAssComs as she slid the gauntlet over her own hand. With the other she reached to her bandoliers and drew out a Knockout capsule, loading it effortlessly into the slot and then aiming at a bounty hunter far across the room. "Now I wonder what _this_ does?"

Lewis was stuck if this hunter didn't move. Just as he thought he would never make it, a blur hit the man square in the chest and started emitting a thin white smoke. Instinctually, the mercenary covered his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in whatever Hatter had launched at them, waiting until the small cloud dispersed and giving ample time for everyone's attention to refocus on the mod before making his way to the control panel, hastily tapping in commands as best he could remember how, drawing from every well of knowledge he'd collected over the past few weeks.

Kia thanked everything that two of the men guarding the hostages had already been taken out, and the other pair was sufficiently drawn off from the civilians. Darting from one hiding spot to the next until she was close enough, Kia quietly joined the ranks of the scientists, holding a finger to her lips to keep them silent. Giving them an indication of the path they should follow, she regulated the group so that every half minute a small band snuck off toward the door. Kia worked her way through the assembly, untying everyone she could and clapping a hand over their mouths when they stupidly made to speak. If worst came to worst she would launch herself at one of the guards to slow them down and allow time for the rest of the hostages to escape.

"You shouldn't have this," Hatter pointed out, holding up the gauntlet. "So that was what the stunt at the Merthyr Inc. launch party was about? Stealing a Bat?" She recalled a snippet of an argument between her and Peace, the latter of whom mentioning the missing automaton, but quickly cast it out from her mind. "You let a fellow die for the sake of a machine you ended up tearing apart?"

"His sacrifice was necessary," BadAssComs hissed. "He let me get _this_." He held up a glass phial containing a clear, deep blue liquid and Hatter felt her heart sink as she recognised what it was. Hollow had explained the Bats to her, so she knew it to be the nucleus, the source of power. Clearly, this was the item related to the charging time of six hours.

Now that she knew what she was looking for, Hatter's focus drifted to the worktop behind the insane TTG member where a row of shoddily made tubes lay, containing the same fluid as the more professional one BadAssComs was holding. "You replicated it," the mod accused. "You turned that into your power source for the bombs."

"I did!" he cackled. "And if I have to, in a few moments I'll blow this whole place up, you and me with it!"

She didn't doubt that. She honestly didn't doubt that he would try. She wasn't going to give him the chance though.

Lewis smirked as he made the last alterations to the system.

Kia held a silent celebration for herself as she huddled with the escaped hostages in the antechamber.

Hatter let go.

She bounded the rest of the distance between her and BadAssComs with two strides, catching him under the throat and pushing him back into the workbench. Flailing behind him, the TTG member grabbed one of his own nuclei and grinned maniacally, knowing Hatter hadn't quite worked it out yet. The cell he had gotten from the Bat itself wasn't unstable enough, and the versions he had made could only be charged from the original for some reason. The one he had grabbed was already primed and all that was left was to set it off. He hit the button on the end of the tube, setting into motion the countdown that was designed to allow him to escape the blast radius. This time he wouldn't make it out alive, but at least he would take one of Hollow's mercenaries – and the Wall – with him.

"I'm not stupid," Hatter laughed as she saw the look on his face. It fell as she grabbed the remake and let him go, casting him to the floor roughly. She didn't know what the fluid inside the tube was, and she didn't think she'd understand even if Hollow had told her, but what was important was that she knew how the deactivate the thing. It was such a ridiculously simple method that she hadn't believed it at first, but Hatter followed what she'd been shown and threw the tube to the ground with all the force she could muster, the glass smashing and the contents spilling out. The gelatinous fluid, upon touching the air, became infected and bleached through to a pale blue. Oxygen. All it took was oxygen to make it inert.

BadAssComs stared at the phial in disbelief, then glared up at her. "You won't get away with this!" he yelled, looking to the bounty hunters he had hired. They all cowered under Hatter's gaze.

"They won't help you. They're scum, with no loyalty. No match for a team like ours." She allowed herself a proud smirk and looked across the room at Lewis, who now stood in full view and waved, then at the doorway where Kia was peeping around and grinning in triumph. "Desperate decisions end up in disasters and destruction – didn't you know that?" Hatter then raised her voice to address everyone in both rooms, friend and foe alike. "While you weren't paying attention, my colleague over there," she gestured to Lewis, "deactivated the continued storm outside, freeing up communications. The police are already on their way." A chittering of delight emanated from the freed hostages. The scientists hopefully had enough confidence now that they would be able to prevent any of the bounty hunters from making a dash for it. Squatting down beside BadAssComs, Hatter looked him directly in the eyes and said, "You lose." She plucked the original Bat nucleus from his hand and slipped it into her own pocket.

Kia, sensing she was no longer on high alert, trotted over to join her guardian and stared at the replicate tubes in curiosity.

"Want to help?" Hatter asked slyly.

"How could I not?" was the cheeky reply. They both picked up a handful of the tubes and, simultaneously, threw them to the ground. Kia laughed as they shattered.


	59. Of the End

"I'm tired," Kia moaned from where she sat on the floor of the lift, and that she had reached the point where even fear couldn't muster in her was in itself was an indicator of her fatigue. Hatter looked down at the girl and smiled; she was exhausted too, of course, but was slightly more used to it.

After ensuring every bounty hunter had been arrested and safely escorted to their new accommodation in prison, Hatter and Kia had seen Lewis off with a smile and a wave, and a promise to meet again in two days' time to get more information about Figit from the mercenary. It all seemed a bit odd really, that Figit was usually so hidden and yet was willing to show himself to Lewis. Something was off about the whole thing, and not just because of the enigma's strange ability to send completely untraceable messages to seemingly everywhere.

But that was a matter for another day. For now, recuperation was key, and both girls would freely admit that they were looking forward to being nowhere near the state of 'damp' again. In just a short while they would be back at the Common again, then in their room, then in their beds. Whilst perhaps not the most thrilling of prospects, it was certainly the most welcome. Hatter tapped her foot impatiently as the compartment sped upward toward their destination, watching as Kia drifted off. As the lift doors opened she gave the girl a gentle nudge with her foot to make her stir and the pair of them stepped out, heading toward the next entrance that prevented them from accessing sleep proper.

**_Welcome back, Hatter,_** Juke greeted, and the familiarity of it spurred another wave of tiredness in Kia. **_Who is behind you?_**

"A Holl–" The moderator paused halfway through the word, sparing a sideways glance at her companion. "A Flukasaur, Kia," she continued.

The girl in question froze mid-yawn. She hadn't heard the term in quite some time, but still remembered what it meant. Staring at Hatter with wide eyes, she began to grin. "Really?" she asked, her voice a mere whisper since she was surprised.

"Of course." Hatter gave her a grin in turn, suddenly finding herself enveloped in a rare hug.

**_Welcome, Kia. I look forward to working with you,_** Juke said finally, and they could almost imagine that he would be smiling if he had had a face. The door opened and, for some reason, the expanse of the Common seemed all that much brighter to the pair. Practically skipping, Kia led the way to their room and halted outside of it, excited for Hatter to catch up. Again, Juke spoke. **_Welcome back, Hatter, Kia. How are you?_**

Kia's smile faltered as she realised that she didn't actually know how to reply. Looking to Hatter for answers, the mod whispered in her ear. "Good!" the girl said, pretending she had been the one to come up with the reply by herself.

**_I'll open the door then._ **

Pleased (and proud) Kia strode into the room and flopped onto her bed, turning her face sideways to beam at Hatter. "Thank you," she said; the smiling was infectious. Following the girl's example, Hatter cast off her trappings and tumbled onto her bed, falling asleep as she was.

 

* * *

 

_The usually obnoxious sounds of the hospital around me fade underneath a quiet hush as the old man takes his last few breaths, slowing, staggering, and finally, stopping. The hand I hold in mine loses its strength and I don't need any beeping monitor to tell me what has happened. His time is up, like I knew it would be, like it should. Perhaps I hadn't known him well, true, but that doesn't mean I can’t mourn the loss of someone who has become an inspiration to me in just a few short weeks. I cry._

_Laurence lays a comforting hand on my shoulder, having entered the room at some point without me realising; the warmth of it only emphasises the chill that has set into the leathery palm I still hold, and as I glance up I see that the time has jumped forward far further than I had thought. My friend says nothing, just waits for me to collect myself, and I thank everything I possibly can that I have someone like him who understands the complicated mess of what I feel._

Hatter's reverie was torn from the book as the intercom in their room began beeping. Checking the page number, she set the story aside and went to see who it was that was calling her, especially when she had requested the day off for herself and Kia, whom she'd allowed to sleep well into the afternoon and was currently still dreaming away.

"There you are," Peace said as Hatter answered the call.

"This better be important," she frowned, though in all honesty there was very little of her prepared to kick up a fuss about anything at that moment.

"Do you call Fluke, Evanz, _and_ Rage coming to visit as important?" He watched her frown in confusion and surprise. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Look, Fluke said he had something crucial to say so just get down to the workshop as soon as possible."

"Alright." With that last word Peace was gone, probably to alert Sky to the situation as well. It was highly unusual that three guests of such calibre would visit all at once, and Hatter couldn't help but feel slightly concerned about it. Opting for haste, she shrugged on the first suitable clothes she could find, instinctively reaching for her bandoliers before remembering that they were currently empty and leaving them where they lay across the back of a chair. Then she paced over to Kia's bed to give her a firm shake, waiting as the girl peered up at her with bleary eyes. "We've got guests. Get up."

Kia groaned, literally rolling out of her bed and taking the sheet with her so she ended up in a cocoon on the floor. "Go ahead. I'll catch up."

Hatter, about to object on account of how Kia wouldn't be able to leave the room, paused and recalled adding the girl to the roster just the day before. The thought of it made her smile again and she nodded. "See you later then." Receiving one last groan of acknowledgement from Kia, the mod exited the room and headed for the nearest lift to take her down a Level, her strides long with enthusiasm. Upon reaching the workshop she weaved as straight a path as was possible toward the central desk, where she saw that everyone had already gathered. For her own enjoyment she counted them as she got closer – one, two, three… eight people waiting, in total. Six she had expected, but two a complete surprise, albeit the one she recognised being welcome. "Eryn!" she grinned, the expression being returned as the other moderator noticed her. "When did you get here?"

"Just now actually," she replied, threading an arm around Sky's shoulders. "Arrived with Fluke." She nodded to the blond, who was leaning on Peace's back as they studied something on one of the monitors. Rage and Hollow were also huddled around, watching closely, but Evanz was a little ways apart, sat on the desk in a hoodie and jeans rather than his usual suit. From the looks of things he hadn't been expecting to be meeting everyone that day, which Hatter concluded meant someone had called him over on short notice. Beside him sat a person who looked vaguely familiar; she rapidly remembered him as Andrew the overly enthusiastic aide she'd met at the launch party, who had probably accompanied Evanz as his personal assistant. The CEO glanced up at her and then his eyes flickered round in confusion.

"She had a lie in," Hatter answered, understanding the question without it being spoken. "She'll be here in a minute." Evanz nodded.

As if only just noticing she had arrived, Fluke turned to Hatter in greeting. "The girl better hurry. We've got some serious things happening here."

Hatter immediately pushed aside her good mood in favour of professionalism. "Bad serious or _really_ bad serious?"

"Don't know yet," Peace called out, not bothering to look away from the screen. "That's what we're trying to find out."

"I found this on my way over here," Fluke began to explain, holding out something small for her to inspect. She took it from his hand and turned it over, a small melted piece of plastic that didn't exactly stand out as anything special to her, but she still got the impression that it was bad news. "This," he took it back from her and held it up to the light so as to illuminate a darker spot in the centre of it, "caught my attention because it was stuck on the wall of the maintenance lift of my building. I managed to scrape it off and examine it on the way here. Any guesses to what it might be?"

"Trash?" Sky suggested.

"Tracker?" Hatter posed.

"Trojan?" Eryn supplied.

"Eryn's close," Fluke revealed. "It's a relay point. One that might possibly, let's say, allow someone to access the BBC archives and delete footage." Fluke's face darkened toward the end of his sentence.

"The train incident," Hatter recalled. "That's how the hacker managed to erase that girl from the system."

"Bingo," Peace said. "See, whilst Fluke's security wasn't the best, it certainly wasn't bad enough that anyone could waltz into the archives and remove stuff. This explains a whole lot, because things would become a lot easier for any hacker whenever that relay was in range. What we're trying to do now is work out exactly _when_ it got into the lift."

Hatter mulled over the information she had been given, recalling the events of months ago with perfect clarity. The girl, the trains, a hacker… the pieces began falling into place as she stared at the device pinched between Fluke's fingers. "Hold on. That means that relay is probably from Open!" She had just finished putting one undead criminal group back in its grave and wasn't really in the mood to tussle with another, more personal one. Not right now.

"Unfortunately, looks like it. Aha!" Peace cheered slightly at something on the monitor that she couldn't see thanks to everyone crowded around it. "I've found the day it appears. Does this date mean anything to anyone?" Curious now, Hatter moved forward and pushed her way between the desk and Rage (stepping on his foot for a tiny bit of revenge) in order to see what they could, finding herself staring at a dull display of the elevator camera. The timestamp at the top left corner was easy to see, and she couldn't help but pale as she saw it.

"That's the day V-8112 took down the rails, right?" Sky said, peering over Peace's shoulder.

Hatter nodded. Only, there was something else that happened on that day, and the look Fluke was giving her prompted her to come clean. "That's the day my Level Pass was renewed. The day…" she hesitated, "…the day Kia and I first visited Fluke."

All eyes turned to her in silence, and she cowered under the mix of accusatory glares and looks of confusion. In her peripherals, she was aware of Andrew hiding a smirk.

"Well that's awkward," Rage said, breaking the tension slightly. "Let's just find out who put the relay there, shall we?"

Hatter was grateful for his intervention as attention was removed from her again. Had someone followed them into the lift? Someone who was after Kia? Was it Open after Kia? Or had she simply placed the girl in the firing line of another band of bounty hunters besides the ones she already had chasing her? It was a sobering thought, and she didn't really want to think about it. No, the best she could do now was find out who placed the relay and track them down, take them out.

Peace began playing through the footage at high speed, already knowing the location the device would appear and keeping a close eye on it. As eight sets of eyes watched people enter and exit the lift - straining for the one crucial moment - a soft cantillation wavered through the air as Kia approached with a cheery hum on her lips. She paused as she saw the group around one monitor, perplexed for a moment, but then shrugged and joined in, trying to peep over the heights of people heads taller than her and failing miserably. Pouting, she plonked herself on the desk next to Evanz, whose distance from the screen prompted him to give up on it with ease.

"Afternoon," he greeted, smiling at Kia.

"Hi," she returned, absently fiddling with the bracelets she'd put on her left wrist, presumably because she was still uncomfortable with having nothing there.

"Where'd you get those from?" Evanz asked, trying to make conversation. Part of him was also curious about the accessories themselves, since they certainly weren't from his company. Two thin, metal disks, each strung on a piece of grey ribbon and set with a stone in the centre – one yellow, one white, and both softly glowing with some form of inner light.

"Don't remember," Kia said, looking down at them. "They were a present, I think."

"Oh."

By the monitor, Hatter had frozen. It couldn't be right. The footage had to be wrong. "Play it again," she hissed through gritted teeth, determined to find something wrong with the camera that meant they had all seen it incorrectly. Peace, sceptical, rewound the video a few minutes and started it again, this time at regular speed. Hatter watched in growing fear as herself and Kia entered the lift, the girl panicking and pressing her hand against the wall to steady herself. Then, when the lift had stopped and the pair walked away, a new mark adorned the wall exactly where Kia's hand had been.

"Face it, Hatter," Fluke said in an undertone. "That's where it was, and that's how it got there."

"It can't be right though?" Sky said. "Kia would never do something like that – she couldn't. Perhaps she didn't know?"

Fluke rolled his eyes, stepping away from the computer to turn his gaze upon the girl herself, who had looked up upon seeing them moving. She tilted her head in curiosity, a light smile on her face. "So, what's happening?"

"Some concerning information has come to light," Hollow said.

"A device, that appeared somewhere only _you_ could have put it," Fluke said. She frowned, squinting at the relay he held out for her to see.

"What is that? You think it's mine?"

"No, not necessarily," Hatter cut in, scowling at Fluke for being so rude. Clearly, he'd never liked Kia. "Although… the evidence is a bit… well, it points toward you." How long had her nails been biting into the palm of her hand? She hoped they hadn't drawn blood, though marks had certainly already been left.

Kia hopped off of the table, her face still twisted in bewilderment. "So you think I put that thing somewhere despite not know what on _Earth_ it actually is? Are you kidding me?"

"The footage might be wrong," Sky said, trying to bring some sort of order before the hostility between Fluke and Hatter reached the point of a full-on fight. "Think about it; if someone could alter the BBC files, what's to say they haven't fixed the lift footage to incriminate Kia?"

"No, the footage is right."

Everyone turned simultaneously to see who it was that had spoken, finding Andrew still sitting on the desk and nonchalantly swinging his legs.

"And how can you be sure?" Eryn asked, dubious about him to say the least.

"Oh, he knows," Evanz backed up unexpectedly. He turned to Fluke. "The storage runs on a Tower system, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. What, does this guy work with Tower?" He gestured vaguely toward Andrew. Hatter was glad to note that she wasn't the only one who didn't quite understand why the blond Welshman was there.

Evanz chuckled lightly. "Sort of. I'm sure I had told you this before, Fluke, but for everyone else's sake…" he glanced over at Andrew and then back to the rest of them, straightening his back a little in pride. "This is the CI that I developed, the one for Tower."

Andrew grinned, getting to his feet. "Well, you say 'developed' but I was pretty much an accident, right?" He bounced over to Hatter and, meeting her eyes meaningfully, took her hand and shook it; immediately her hand went numb in a fashion she had experienced once before but couldn't place. "Nice to meet you properly. They call me Andrew, or 'Functional and Intelligent General Interface of Tower'."

"What is this, Evanz?" Hollow queried, frowning. "You said he's a CI? But he has form?"

Evanz shrugged. "Like he said, it was all a bit of an accident. I figure he works the same way as pseuvi, since he's made out of data."

Oh, so that was it, Hatter realised. The numb feeling was the same as the handcuffs, though stronger, as data literally ran through her cells when she became part of the circuit upon contact. And yet, something about it all was still evading her.

" _Motherfucker_ ," Kia cursed, the unusual phrase startling just about everybody as it spilled from her. "'Functional and Intelligent General Interface of Tower' my arse – you're Figit!"

Andrew – Figit – chuckled. "Yes, that _is_ the abbreviation."

"You're joking! So it was _you_ helping us all the time?"

Evanz frown, glancing between her and Figit. "Wait, what have you been doing?"

"Never mind that!" Fluke cut in, obviously annoyed by the huge sidetrack everyone had found themselves on. "We can all marvel over wonderboy here in a minute; first thing's first, Kia put the relay in the lift. Which can only mean Kia works for Open!"

Hatter stared at him in disbelief at the accusation. "Oh come on," Rage piped up. "We've all met Kia. She couldn't hurt a fly."

"Who said she had to? She's obviously on an infiltration mission."

Kia blinked, her face blank.

"Hey," Hatter said nervously, nudging her friend. "He's wrong, right? It got there by accident or something? Kia?" Her voice became progressively more unsteady as she spoke and Kia still didn't move. "Kia? Kia… you can just deny something when it's not true, you know?"

Finally – _finally_ – Kia took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. "I don't work for Open," she stated, clearly and firmly. "I am not taking orders from any criminal organisation, and I am not here to hurt anyone."

"See?" Hatter added, hastily following up the declaration and feeling a wave of relief that Kia had finally come back to herself. "It's fine; it's all just misunderstandings." And then, words that made her heart stop.

"Ah, well, not exactly."

Slowly, Hatter turned her head to look at Kia fearfully. The girl seemed bored, examining her bracelets before looking up at them all with a flat smile. "What?"

"Look, I'm just going to get this over with, okay?" Kia said, sighing and throwing her hands up in the air. "I literally cannot be bothered anymore. So hey, you found out I'm not an ordinary girl, good for you." She cast a thumbs up at Fluke, accompanied by a condescending smirk.

"Kia, what're you saying?" Sky asked, concern on her face.

"Oh, right and that." She pointed at the mod as if able to actually point at what had been said. She took a step back and gave a theatrical bow, grinning up at everyone who was frozen in place. "Hello, my name is Rvlakia. I don't work for Open." She straightened out, and the way she stood gave the impression that she was taller than she was. "Open works for _me_."

It was if the spell had suddenly been broken and chaos descended, Sky, Eryn and Peace all lunging at Kia to grab her as she laughed maniacally, turning on her heel and running. Instinctively, Hatter chased her too, leading the pack as Kia darted around every contraption in the room, knocking some over to hinder her tail. If given a clear space to run, Hatter knew they would all have caught up with her in seconds and yet she maintained her lead, one step ahead of them the entire time. Catching on to where she was going, Hatter heard Peace shout from behind her, "Juke! Lockdown every exit!"

**_On it_** , was the simple reply, and the racket of the lifts slamming to a halt and the doors bolting rang through the Level. Only, a screeching sound came from up ahead and rounding another obscuring structure they could see the door to one of the lift shafts was wedged open by a piece of metal, prevented from closing. Kia saw the blockage too.

"Cel!" she shouted, the order evident in her tone. "It's time to go!"

Sky didn't know what had hit her, and by the time Eryn had turned to check she was alright both mods were laid on the ground, out cold. Peace had more time to react, managing to raise a block in time and catching the fist of a child just before it clipped him in the face. Taking another look, he saw his opponent was actually a woman (though even smaller than Kia) and in his moment of hesitation in wondering where she'd come from Cel had thrust her knee into his stomach, making him buckle and bringing him into range for a whip around the head that sent his brain spinning. Another swift kick to the stomach had him gasping and soon his lunch was gracing the floor.

Hatter heard the commotion behind her but paid it no heed. Her colleagues could handle themselves, and if not then it would still be a waste of time to try and help them. There was no more hiding space for Kia now, not when the escape route was so blatant, so the mod had caught up. She reached for the girl with the hand that wasn't numb, grasping her arm and yanking her backwards so roughly that it sent Kia crashing into her and they both tumbled to the floor. "Let go!" Kia hissed, scrambling to her feet faster than Hatter had expected but still unable to break free. "I got what I came for, and it wasn't you!"

Hatter felt a foot connect with the underside of her chin, causing her mouth to explode in pain as she bit her tongue, the shock of it making her release her grip on her quarry. Looking up, she saw another girl – presumably Cel – had joined Kia, and the two of them were staring down at her blankly.

"We're leaving," Kia commanded, and Cel nodded. They turned their backs on Hatter even as she managed to stagger to her feet, scrabbling for a decent purchase on her Desync state and finding it extremely difficult for some reason. But she wasn't about to give up, not now. Not when she had so many questions. She forced the world to slow, trying to catch up to the pair as they neared the empty lift shaft wherein the cab itself was nowhere in sight. She saw Kia glance back over her shoulder, obviously having expected Hatter to catch up. "Hal," she said, smirking at the mod as she stared her dead in the eye, "tear it all apart."

It was like an imagination from a story book. Something coalesced around one of the bracelets Kia was wearing, the yellow stone going dim as data began to shift into the shape of a human. It was a patchy vision of a person, partially transparent and in obvious pain as it became the likeness of a teenage girl, blonde and instantly recognisable. In the moment she saw her face, Hatter's Desynced mind filed together everything she knew about Figit, the numb feeling she had gotten and couldn't explain the first time around because _she hadn't known about this_ , the Operating Scandal, Figit's comments to Kia at the party about looking after his sister – how could an artificial being have a sister? Only in terms of programs. It hadn't been weaponised.

V-8112 had become _human_.

Despite the achievement of working such a thing out, Hatter was still too far behind to catch up and she watched in futility as Kia and Cel clambered into the supports of the lift shaft, pulling out the piece of metal preventing the doors from shutting. Hatter's eyes met Kia's one last time before cold grey slid between them, severing any link of friendship they might have once had and leaving behind only a virus, and even that was short lived as she placed a single hand on the emergency control panel by the lift and faded into it. Almost immediately the sound of Juke's screaming rang throughout the Level, tearing through her head as her Twitter devices sounded off as well, rattling her brain and casting her out of Desync. Gasping at the shock of it, Hatter collapsed to the floor, overly-aware of her blood racing around her body as Juke's sound faded to nothingness while V-8112 ate through him, leaving nothing behind. Eventually, total silence, broken only by the noises Hatter made herself. She couldn't believe it. She still couldn't. And yet, there was one truth that persisted in her head, driving her insane even as Fluke caught up and was trying to see if she was alright.

Kia was gone.

 

Kia was gone.

 

 

 

 

Kia was gone.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends the Liquid Phase...


	60. Rewind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[ PART THREE - GAS PHASE ]]

It had been quite some time since she'd moved Open's base up into the higher echelons of a scraper but something about Ground Level still felt like home to her. The way the Mist curled around the buildings and the people moving about, the complex hierarchy of the local families that occupied the area – it was what Rvlakia knew, simple as. Her origin, if she were sentimental enough to call it that. For today though, it was a meeting place, the beginnings of an indefinite façade that she had prepared with care. It was certainly sufficient to fool the bounty hunters that held her captive, one or two of whom she definitely recognised from previous dealings. It had been easy to find the right group for this, one that wouldn't question the instructions they were given but were subpar on many levels, giving her plenty of opportunities to escape. Not that she took any of them, of course. She kept her head down, her form closed and fearful, waiting for the  _right_  opportunity.

The Hatter wasn't an easy person to find. For someone who had passed into urban legend it was surprisingly difficult to get a secure lead on her, and even when they had her patrolling routes were so erratic that no pattern could be drawn from them. Eventually Rvlakia had given up on planning their encounter in advance, jumping into her role and relying on her group's members to follow Hatter and tailor the orders they gave to the bounty hunters so that she was being 'transferred' at the perfect time. Even with her head angled to the floor, Rvlakia's eyes were alert for any sign of an approach. But it was her ears that gave Hatter away, the steady sound of boots that were too high a quality for anyone who lived on the Ground. She waited a little longer to make sure that it was the right person, scanning the way the Mist warped around the advancing girl. Yes. It was her.

Rvlakia was glad that the bounty hunters thought they had ample power over her that they didn't need to tie her hands or secure her in any kind of way. She had been prepared for it, of course, but their complacency let her skip a whole section of the escape, allowing her to jump straight into kicking the hunter to her left, stomping on the back of his knee with force and precision enough to send him to the ground. The surprise caught the rest of them off guard and they hesitated, which was enough of a delay for her to leap over the cursing man and hurtle toward the figure of Hatter that was rapidly making itself clearer in the frame of the side street that connected their parallels. Vaguely aware of the mercenary's assumption of a defensive stance, Rvlakia switched her face to one of terror and barrelled into her, sending them both to the ground. She had misjudged the distance and the result of it was an agonising pain that prompted a muted cry to spill forth from her lips. But it wasn't time to think about that; she had to act quickly.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" she asked with concern, detaching herself from the mercenary.

"Yes, fine."

Rvlakia hadn't fully known what to expect but she liked the way Hatter had spoken, her voice sure of herself and impatient at the same time. Not to mention it indicated she was in a defensive mood, which meant she would protect a weak looking girl from the cautious man approaching them. Rvlakia had to stop herself from scoffing as he laid nothing but a verbal claim to her – they were scared and that was one of the reasons she'd chosen this particular group, but it was still a disgrace to everyone who shared the profession.

"Oh, she's yours, is she?" Hatter retorted, standing and dusting her coat off. The man shrank back. "It doesn't seem like she enjoys your company much." And few more words and a snappy shout was all it took to have him turn tail and flee, leaving the two of them alone. Finally Hatter's attention turned to her. "Are you hurt?" she asked, staring down at Rvlakia with hint of suspicion in her eyes.

"I – I think my wrist is broken," Rvlakia replied, trying out her hand and allowing herself to hiss at the pain. It really was injured, something she hadn't quite expected. But if she could turn it into a pity point then it might actually help. "Yes, I believe it is so."

Hatter's eyebrow raised at that comment. "That's some fancy grammar coming out of you." Rvlakia made a mental note to tone it down with her grammar. This initial conversation would be her basis for fine-tuning the character of 'Kia' to suit an image that Hatter would feel comfortable with. She could feel the mercenary's studious gaze trying to tear the disguise apart already, but it was no match for her. "Look, I'm staying not too far from here. Can you walk?"

Success. The offer meant Hatter was taking to her, and Rvlakia had to force herself not to grin.

 

* * *

 

Certainly Rvlakia would never have found Hatter's home by herself – the wall looked like nothing but, and it was only when it began to speak to them that she realised it was more. To this point she'd worked hard on presenting a terribly naïve and fan-like persona to the mercenary, making it stick in her head that there was no threat, but the awe in her eyes at that particular moment was real. Too bad Hatter was facing away.

**_Welcome back, Hatter. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Hollower," she replied, the word – whilst sounding odd – making a clear reference to anyone who had brains toward the weapons developer. Rvlakia's fists clenched. Surely this was Hollow's latest security system?

**_I'll open the door then._ **

"I'm a what?" she asked, trying to dig for any information about it. She had to know as much as she could, to reduce the chance of anything unexpected happening when she took it out. She was a little disappointed at Hatter's willingness to give up the information as they entered, part of her wanting the mercenary to be so evasive that she became the ultimate enemy. Still, the information was useful and she filed it away under 'Important Info' to ensure she never forgot.

"What blood type are you?"

The question caught her a tad off-guard, having been so deep in thought about the security that she hadn't noticed sitting down, let alone whatever it was Hatter had been doing. Rvlakia scanned the items strewn about and quickly concluded what was going on. "Uh… no idea."

Hatter's head gave a light nod that was probably habit, putting everything away with the exception of two packets – one full of pills, the other containing a bandage. "Take two," she instructed, holding out the former. "They'll not work as well, seeing as they're not specific to your body."

Rvlakia kept her face as neutral as possible, trying desperately not to laugh at the comment. Work as well as  _what_ , exactly? As well as everything as else that had no effect? But her innate resistance didn't support the image of Kia she was presenting so she obeyed, swallowing the painkillers and wondering what it was Hatter would do next. As it turned out, that was binding the damaged wrist Rvlakia sported. Knowing she was supposed to be drugged, she thanked everything that her pain tolerance was high enough to get through the torment with only the occasional wince.

 

* * *

 

The floor was hard and for anyone else it would be impossible to sleep on, but she was perfectly comfortable with it. Rvlakia lay in the darkness, listening to the sound of Hatter's breathing and wondering why the mercenary wasn't going to sleep. Perhaps she was analysing Kia's story for inconsistencies, a thought process that really wasn't desirable so early on in the deception. "Hatter? Are you awake?" Rvlakia asked quietly, creating a distraction that would hopefully prevent suspicion.

"Yes."

"It's only a few days until your Level Pass is renewed, right?" The timing had been planned of course, to give her the best chance to integrate herself with Hatter's life, but that was – like much else – a secret.

"That's right."

"Good." Rvlakia forced a sigh, an action she had learnt would cause a mind to wind down conversations or events; in this case, removing Hatter's instinct to stay awake. " _I want to go home_ ," she added in a quiet whisper to make it sound more personal, furthering the image she wanted.

After that it was just matter of waiting, and after half an hour she was certain that Hatter was completely under. Cautiously, Rvlakia unwound herself from the cocoon of blankets and crept into the main room, scowling at the automatic light that switched on. It was dimmed, likely on a night-mode, but it still unsettled her that it wasn't controllable. Beside the front door was a panel that she had spotted earlier and she made her way to it, prying it open with the great care of someone who knew what they were doing and examining the layout of wires and inputs contained within. As she'd thought, this was the best way to access the security system; with a quick glance back to double check Hatter hadn't followed her, Rvlakia retrieved a unique communication device from where she'd stashed it in a cupboard earlier, behind the honey.

To say the security seemed to have a life of its own was an understatement. Rvlakia was close to swearing as she struggled with it, simply trying to download it onto the device. Cogs whirred in her head as she attempted to outwit it, eventually settling on getting a locked version of the program saved. No doubt some warning had been set off about unauthorised interference but that wasn't a problem. Shutting the panel, Rvlakia waited for a small red light on the device to turn green, at which point she knew the system's copy had been sent where it needed to go. Jessi could manage it from there.

All that was left was disposing of the evidence. She snapped the thin device into pieces, dropping one down the kitchen sink, another into the bin (after crushing it further with her foot). The remaining bits she would get rid of over the next few days. It was all a little over the top but one could never be too careful.

 

* * *

 

Rvlakia had a strong feeling that she would need to continue her disguise, which was why she allowed Plan B to carry out. In all reality, Plan B was more of an extension than a scheme in its own right, but she liked the sound of it better than calling it Plan A Plus or something similarly apt and lacklustre. She'd left it to Mineos to enact it, feeling that sense pride she had with any member of such a plan when she saw him rush into the gap of bounty hunters to get in Hatter's way. The mercenary herself seemed intuitively helpful too, taking Rvlakia's hand and closing the distance between their wrists, making it easier for Mineos to do as he had been instructed.

Although the double-punch to the stomach had to have negated that ease, if she was honest. Offering a silent apology, she kept Hatter's hand still for just a moment more than it should have been, allowing him to activate the shackle that would bind them together for the foreseeable future. It was an amazing piece of technology that she would never have thought of, stolen from the heart of Rage's prototype collection in a manner that would surely have perplexed him had he been around to discover it missing. He would return from Leeds eventually but she needed him held off for potentially quite some time.

Though she had been aware that they were state-of-the-art handcuffs, this was the first she was actually seeing them and was taken aback at their obvious pseuvi nature, having not expected such a design. The genuine awe served to persuade Hatter that she knew nothing about it, and after a quick conversation about the inconvenience (the mercenary had no idea how long she was going to be stuck with it) they proceeded to the scraper proper and to Matt. Matt, the weapons merchant. Matt, the informant. Matt, the undercover cop. Matt, the dual-lived.

Rvlakia knew he enjoyed the opportunity to call her nicknames she would never have allowed otherwise. The look on her face as they left informed him just how much trouble he would be in when he finally took a 'holiday' from his job.

 

* * *

 

Calling the base for the first time was an unusual experience, what with Hatter practically staring at her through the café window. Rvlakia knew it would be strange for whomever picked up the other end; after all, she had made the barest hints of the mission goals to her executives before quickly arranging to go undercover, and she probably owed them an apology for the abruptness of it all. Still, the fewer people who knew the end game, the better chance she stood of winning.

As expected, Hallie was the one to pick up. Quickly ordering anyone unauthorised to leave the room, Rvlakia addressed the resident hacker. "Tell me your findings." By now they would have received the download she'd sent and pulled it apart.

"It's a good security system. High-grade. I'd say military, but I haven't had any records of it so far." Which was only to be expected, since it seemed to be Hollow's personal system. Jess hadn't cracked it unfortunately, meaning Rvlakia had been right to tie herself to Hatter. She had to get close to someone who could give her a key, and couldn't help but smile as she learnt that the mercenary was one such person. Perhaps this might be easier than she thought.

 

* * *

 

When the security system insulted Fluke, Rvlakia nearly had a heart attack.

Retrospectively, it made sense. The AI was clearly far more advanced than she had initially thought, enabling it to protect itself better from intrusions like her attempt to copy it. With any luck, its cover didn't extend to the BBC archives so Jess could still use the relay she had just placed in the elevator to access them if need be. The fear of maintenance lifts was an inconvenient facet she had added to the Kia personality but she would put up with it for as long as necessary, and if she were with Hatter for an extended period of time she might fade the caution out in an imitation of personal development.

Fluke was a problem though. He clearly didn't trust her in the slightest, wary even more so than Hatter had been. Somehow she got the feeling that if she spent too much time near him he would pick through the flaws in her disguise, seeing Rvlakia rather than Kia and causing her to fail. She had already been ejected from the office and was now waiting in the adjoining conference room, tapping the glass table in a pattern that helped her to focus on listening through the wall to gather what information she could. The entire conversation seemed to be about Open (beyond amusing) and there was only one thing that really caught her interest – a name.

Morgan. It could be useful.

 

* * *

 

Watching the train tracks disintegrate would have been terrifying if Rvlakia hadn't known the cause of it immediately. This wasn't something she had told Hallie to do and yet it occurred (a result of her lack of guidance she supposed) making it essentially her fault anyway. She assisted Hatter in rescuing everyone and then when they reentered the station stood quietly as the mercenary seemed to slip into an altered state of thinking, her eyes flickering around at everything. The wavering slowed as she looked at fewer and fewer things, eliminating them from some list she held in her head. Rvlakia was concerned when Hatter's gaze lingered on herself for a moment too long for it to be coincidence; she could tell by mere intuition, it seemed, that 'Kia' was wrong, but before anything could come of it Hallie walked by in the edges of their vision, distracting Hatter. Rvlakia cursed mentally as they gave chase, not wanting to lose an asset like Hallie in such a way. The mercenary was fast and determined, actually catching up with the girl and managing to get a hand on her. Rvlakia did nothing, knowing from experience that simply making contact with the embodied virus was enough to deaden one's hand for a good few hours.

She cast Hatter a sympathetic look as she jogged past but this seemed to encourage the mercenary and soon they were catching up again, something Rvlakia wasn't too happy about. For the first time, Hallie turned to check on her pursuers and her eyes visibly widened as she saw her Boss with an enemy. It had to have been confounding but Rvlakia took the opportunity she was presented with to signal that she was prepared to help. There was a slight nod of Hallie's head and she stopped, facing them properly and setting for an impact.

Catching on in an instant, Rvlakia ensured she was a good distance in front of Hatter and picked up speed. The space between her and the executive practically vanished and, millimetres from collision, the Boss launched herself backward into the mercenary in a manner that would definitely appear as her being thrown as opposed to intentionally obstructing. It took mere moments for them to regain their feet but that was all it took for Hallie to disappear around the corner.

"Impossible…" Hatter muttered as they stared at the empty corridor. Rvlakia stood behind her a little ways, which was how she managed to hide the automatic glance toward the broken temperature control panel on the wall, an unthinkable escape route to anyone who knew nothing of Hallie's composition. They'd evaded Hatter and bought more time; though she didn't quite approve of the grand scale of the attack, the Boss still had to admit it was a victorious battle.

 

* * *

 

Rvlakia couldn't sleep.

She readjusted herself every few minutes, finding no comfort in the sterile sheets and silence of the room, nor the soft glow of the handcuff that was acting as a glorified nightlight. She lay on her back, then her side, then her front, then on her back again; nothing helped in the slightest. It was like her blood was boiling, itching for another rush of action now that it had tasted adrenaline earlier that day. It was always this way after a chase, worse after a fight, and thanks to her current situation there was nothing Rvlakia could do to alleviate the smothering impossibility of sleep.

Hatter was already deep under, no doubt, ready to drop the moment she walked through the door to her room. The tiredness was evident in her eyes, so total that she forgot her limits. Moderator. That's what she called herself, like it was an officially-appointed position that she shared with many more people. Therefore there was a team (though this was the first Rvlakia had heard of it) and she was now caught up in wondering whether she and the other 'mods' had crossed paths before. Surely not? There was no way to tell. They were concerningly organised in a way she hadn't expected, and she began to question whether she had misjudged the scale of what she had embroiled her group in.

Nevertheless, she would see it through to the end. Rvlakia appropriated the new terminology in her head; Hatter was a mod, the security system was a CI. A Cogitative Intelligence, self-aware to the point that it talked back to Fluke and used an actual name to identify itself. A challenge, a fascinating one, was presented to her in the form of this 'Juke', but it was nothing more than that. She could handle him. She took care of Hallie, didn't she? And it was clear that the two were the same type of being, both artificial constructs that were far too human to be classed as simple programs. By what she knew and what Fluke had said, there was Hallie, Juke – and one other. Three of what one might argue should be classed as a new species.

Fascinating.

 

* * *

 

If Hatter had noticed that Rvlakia hadn't slept at all the she said nothing, seemingly preoccupied with a simple piece of paper she thought she was hiding from the girl. The Boss had seen it pass hands from Katie to the mod, which explained why such an unusually bright place had been Hatter's first choice of shop. Even asking her about it when they sat down in the tech-café didn't rouse her from the strange stupor that had set, so Rvlakia just snatched the paper away.

"What is it?" she asked, knowing full well what the sketch was. Open's logo. Her logo. Somehow the information had found its way into this realm of law abiding persons without her meaning it too. Probably some other group they had dealings with feeling threatened and making an indolent attempt to remove her power from the system. She glanced at Hatter and, on a whim, added, "I think I've seen this before."

"It's a logo belonging to an organisation of bounty hunters called 'Open'."

"Are you going to get rid of them?" Obviously they were going to attempt to, but Rvlakia needed to know whether they had access to any more information than their mere existence. If she were unlucky, then the game was already almost over.

"I hope so." Hatter frowned. "There's only one problem. I already destroyed Open four years ago."

Rvlakia automatically went to say "So it  _was_  you!", but thankfully the ever-present function that was Kia translated it into a pathetically vague "Wha…" that could be taken to mean anything at that point in time. Hatter seemed to interpret it as confusion.

"Of course, they were called 'Open Empire' back then, but it's the same group, same logo; albeit, there used to be a crown above the centre line."

A simple design change that, in all honesty, came about because Rvlakia was just too lazy to draw the tiny constituent lines of the crown every time. The conversation was bringing back old memories of sneaking by the raiding forces, watching in utter enthrallment from the dark as a girl no older than herself had rounded up men twice her size. She had suspected, but now she knew for sure that this figure had been Hatter, destroying the old organisation and enabling Rvlakia to take the top spot. It was almost laughably coincidental that the Boss was locked in a subtle battle with the person she had once claimed as her rival. "Did any of them escape?" she asked, continuing to probe about Hatter's knowledge of events.

"Small fry, nothing of consequence. Well, I guess they're of consequence _now_."

"So the leader didn't reform the group..."

"Of course not; a dangerous criminal with 'Disasterwound' as his codename? No, Hines is detained under Juke's supervision so there's no way he could have escaped. Besides, my information says that someone else is in charge now."

"Oh," Rvlakia said after a few moments. From the sounds of intonation and body language, it was clear Hatter didn't know the first thing about who was leading Open. It was both a relief and an annoyance that she would continue to go unrecognised for her achievement but she let both feelings drop. Things would be simply too boring as they were so she decided to throw Hatter a bone, allowing her to link more information with her quarry. "I remember where I saw this now. The girl – terrorist, I guess – that we didn't catch was wearing a pin of this on her shirt." Of course, Hallie hadn't been, but it wasn't an uncommon display in the group.

"She was? I didn't see it."

"I do this thing, sometimes, where I notice small details that other people can't. No one person can see everything, right? Not even you…" It would be useful to lay a foundation like this now, so as to explain other 'out of thin air' observations she might decide to (or accidentally) provide in the future.

Hatter seemed a tad dubious at first but obviously didn't reject the idea. Throwing Rvlakia, she changed the subject abruptly to a question about tea before wandering off to get some; the Boss made completely certain that Hatter wasn't watching her then pulled the computer screen up from the desk, hastily sending a message to Jessi. It was only fair to warn them, after all. Aware that Hatter was returning and there was no time for her to put the screen away without looking suspicious, she shut down the communication line and typed the first word she could think of into the search engine. Screen safely covered with the black and white furballs once known as 'pandas', Kia was ready to greet her companion again.

 

* * *

 

 

The first time Rvlakia escaped an Inducer, she was out for a whole month. The second time, 2 weeks. The third time, Kia woke in four days.

It was with a flash of terror as she spoke to Peace that Rvlakia realised she had been thinking of herself in terms of the persona she bore. She actually felt  _safe_  when she understood where she was, and real concern for Hatter's mental state when she saw the mercenary still unconscious. It wasn't a problem that she found Kia so easy to present but it had been unexpected to say the least, perhaps an indicator that she had constructed a character so well it was bordering on reality in some strange way.

She had plenty of time to think about it whilst the moderator was asleep. Plenty of time to wonder about the suspicious absence of Graves who had purportedly been assigned another mission, wracking her brain for any possible job it could have been and whether it would affect Open. And still plenty of time to consider Figit.

They could access unsigned Twitter devices like the once she wore on her wrist (delivered to her by Cel in a ridiculously roundabout way). Even Jess couldn't do something like that, which was how Rvlakia came to the conclusion that Figit wasn't a person as such, but an artificial being; more like Hallie than Juke, they were perhaps the creation of Evanz that had been mentioned, or an independent mind that no one was aware of. In retrospect, the first clue had been their message on the day she had awoken: 'Next time'. Sky had thought it to be an oddly worded apology but something about that explanation hadn't sat quite right in Rvlakia's mind, and given her observations of her subordinate's emotional range it made far more sense that it was a simple statement that they would 'catch their quarry next time'. Guilt, sympathy, comforting – they were all human aspects that no AI or CI was able to replicate, nor did they need to.

Ah. Replicate. Duplicate. Duplicity.

She scribbled the word into 7 across, edging the puzzle's completion further along.

 

* * *

 

'Cpnrlx' rang bells in Rvlakia's mind, but it wasn't until she was being held hostage that she realised why. A hand brutally twisted into her hair to keep her still, the cold press of a blade on her throat to warn anyone that trying to save her would do more harm than good. "Let her go," Hatter instructed the criminal, voice artificially level and calm. Rvlakia found that she liked the fear in the mercenary's eyes. Pure, paralysing terror. It wasn't a sadistic delight, more a strange, gleeful contentment that she had irrefutable proof that Hatter cared about her safety. Why such a thing mattered so much to her she didn't know.

"Keep still," Cpnrlx hissed at her as she fidgeted uncomfortably, and the tone of his voice made the last piece fall into place in her mind with a satisfying  _click_. This criminal was no man, but a female, and one she knew well at that.

"You've only been gone a year; don't think a hat and glasses will fool me, Rachel," Rvlakia muttered, assuming her usual tone of voice and not the one that Kia spouted. Cpnrlx – Rachel – stiffened slightly, obviously not having paid enough attention to the situation that she hadn't realised exactly whom it was she held hostage. Maybe it was simply that this was the last place she expected to run into her former Boss, at the right hand of the infamous Hatter. Speaking of whom, the mercenary seemed to have withdrawn into her own mind and was unable to notice even the barest twitch of Rvlakia's lips as she muttered to her captor. "Play along like you don't know me and I can get you out of this."

Rachel nodded imperceptibly, frowning as she saw Outcast whispering to Hatter across the way. "Shut up!" she barked, the effort to shout with a lower voice causing her to accidentally dig the knife into Rvlakia's skin, resulting in a nervous tremble in her voice as she panicked over whether the Boss would be angry but being unable to show her contrition. "I know you two are conspiring something! I swear I'll kill her if I see any more funny business!"

Rvlakia tuned out a little as she considered the situation; she'd promised her former subordinate a way out but hadn't anything planned, so was trying to figure the best course of action. She was vaguely aware of the words flying between her guardian and her captor, only latching back onto the conversation as she heard mention of her release. Ah yes, it was a simple as that. When Rachel rejected Hatter's offer of freedom through suspicion of a double cross, Rvlakia cut in with, "Hatter isn't lying…"

"What would  _you_  know about it?" Rachel spit, the hidden meaning in the question oh so clear to Rvlakia, who knew Open's members – past and present – particularly well: what should I do?

"I know her. I know that she doesn't want me hurt." She favours my safety over your arrest.

"Is that so…" I don't understand why that is, but I don't care right now.

"Listen, keep watching Hatter," Rvlakia instructed, lowering her volume and banking on the likelihood that Hatter didn't know how to read lips. She reached calmly into her pocket and pulled out one of the cylinders she had stolen from Hatter the other night. This wasn't how she had wanted to reveal her theft but there was no helping it; she held it so it caught the light, waiting for a sign in the very edge of her peripheral vision that Hatter had seen the device. "I'm going to put something in your hood, then when she offers you a deal again you take it."

"Then what?"

"Just go. Things will sort themselves out. Trust me."

"Of course."

Hatter had seen the metal, so she subtly brought it up to place into the folds of Rachel's hoodie. With a bare few more lines of acting – on both the mercenary's and the criminal's parts, ironically – Rvlakia found herself free to move again, finally allowing herself to notice the slide of blood on her neck where she'd been injured. She followed the line of Rachel's exit with her eyes even as Hatter rushed over to baby her, knowing that Cel was nearby and would sort something out for her past protégé before the mercenary could catch up. The smell of iron permeated the air and the sting of injury raised her heartbeat as Hatter wiped at the injury roughly, utterly unaware that she'd been played.

 

* * *

 

"I'm going to go home and get back to a normal life."

Kia watched the girl she sat across from carefully, indignant at her removal from Hatter and completely bemused by the offer she was now presented with. This was the first time in weeks she had been alone with someone that wasn't a part of the whole moderator operation and if she was quite honest, she didn't know how to deal with it. Mez seemed harmless enough, but at the same time the girl had thought the best way to attack Hatter was to drop an entire bookcase on her; everything she did was contradictory in a simultaneously non-hypocritical way and it was twisting Kia's mind about to the point of total rejection. Despite that, she still did like Mez.

With a disturbing jolt, Rvlakia was suddenly aware that she wasn't sure whether that thought was hers or Kia's. In fact, Rvlakia had completely forgotten to analyse the Confession in the entire time they'd been together, hours of potential chances to figure out how the girl ticked and how to manipulate her, which was not only a disturbing revelation but also a dangerous fact. Who knew what the girl had seen in her; was the façade complete enough that she could trick her even unconsciously? More worrisome, was Kia real enough that even the Boss couldn't tell which persona she was presenting?

"Of course you are," Mez scoffed, making Rvlakia's heart sink. "Is that what Hatter thinks? Does she even know you at all?"

"She's spent more time with me than you have," she murmured in reply, hoping that Mez was alluding to some other 'secret' than the Big Lie, but preparing for the worst.

"And yet she's obviously denying the reality of what she sees before her." Mez leant forward, resting her chin on her hand and holding a disturbingly insightful eye contact. "Theme parks sure are a good way of judging people. Hatter's managing to blind herself but I can see you clearly. I can see how much you enjoy the thrill of danger, and your natural skill for stuff like that. Don't give me that shit about being 'lucky'," she warned, holding up a hand and stopping Rvlakia from even attempting to claim so. "I saw you thinking about how to adjust to the faults in that gun, even if you didn't realise you were doing it yourself."

Rvlakia's tongue was on the edge of words, prepared to give a reasonable explanation as to everything, but her mind was in such an unusually panicked state that prevented her from coming up with anything so she lamely shut her mouth.

"So, like I said," Mez smiled, "you have a home with us when you're thrown away. Heck, you might even see Hatter from time to time! Oh, well, that is, until we bring her down and give her due punishment. Anyway, at least think about it, yeah? You won't have to hide anything from us."

Oh.  _Oh_. So that really  _was_  all Mez was doing, giving her a place in the Confessions. She'd noticed an aptitude to danger, and that was all. She didn't know about Rvlakia, about R or Open, about anything that would possibly implicate her nefarious nature.

The young mercenary looked out of the Ferris wheel capsule. "Oh shit, out of time."

As Hatter tore into the space, eyes full of fury, Rvlakia felt she had never been more relieved to see anyone in her whole life.


	61. Fast Forward

Hatter considered herself a murderer.

Certainly, her answer had taken Rvlakia quite by surprise given that the moderators seemed to be the very embodiment of the law. One single comment from Mez had bugged her for a month before she worked up the courage to ask, and it was only in the intense pondering afterward that Rvlakia realised that, despite the 'yes', she had no idea what Hatter classed as murder. In a traditional sense, it would mean a direct killing of another person, and yet she seemed to have the least murderous personality of anyone the Boss had met. Another possibility was that Hatter was, in some way, intrinsically involved in causing a death, or several. This made far more sense when accounting for the mod's temperament.

Though she had been party to many a death and the instigator of others, Rvlakia herself had never dealt the final blow, so to speak. She liked to think Hatter was referring to herself as a murderer in the latter sense because that would make them the same, wouldn't it? The thought of it appealed.

 

* * *

 

 

Honestly, Rvlakia wanted to find whoever had first had the idea of dresses and persuade him very  _politely_  to simply 'not'. She hated the things; whether one could fight or no, nimble or clumsy, run fast or slow, dresses made everything twice as difficult for anybody wearing one. How Hatter managed in a skirt all the time she had no idea but she was beginning to suspect there might be some ground-breaking engineering going on, for how else could such a practical person consider such hindering clothes appropriate for combat situations? It baffled her.

The Boss was in a foul mood because of what she had been forced to wear and some of that petulance had filtered through into Kia; it had appeared to be beneficial, however, as Hatter initiated a game of sorts for her to identify suspicious persons. Having spent the last month pretending to slowly learn all about the ways of the underworld (it was simply mortifying to say she didn't know who Elewinduu was) it was surprisingly fun to let her innate observation skills take over. Thus she noticed the TTG member immediately, attempting to direct Hatter there as a second choice so as to not arouse suspicion at how quickly she'd found him. OKD was a useful diversion, but being intercepted by Andrew had certainly not been in the plan.

"Right… Mind telling me what he said then?" Hatter asked, obviously dubious regarding her lack of knowledge about the man when he'd treated them so casually.

"Just, like, 'take care of my sister' or something," she replied, thinking about what he had whispered to her. It made no sense, and she ordinarily would have thought that he had mistaken her for someone else were it not for the mention of Kia's name. Something about him struck her as familiar but she couldn't place what.

The encounter threw her so much that she managed to forget about the TTG member she had spotted and as a result she trailed after Hatter like a lost child, meeting people she already knew by face, not to mention status. What would Hatter feel, if she knew that she had just presented one of the Most Wanted to not only the prime minister, but the Queen too? Certainly she would have kicked herself, then likely Rvlakia too, but the whole thing was so surreal. She felt lightheaded as Kia forgot to breathe.

Wrapped up in her own thoughts about the hilarity of it all, the mystery of Andrew and potential responses Hatter might present when she found out about the Boss, Rvlakia allowed her disguise to control every action, receding into her own mind to drown out the noise of the party around. As such, she didn't pay the slightest notice to who was near to the Queen until Kia glanced over and dropped her drink.

The chill ring of glass acted as an alarm bell, vehemently dragging Rvlakia to the forefront of her awareness. Immediately she judged the situation and categorised everyone present: bystander, client, enemy, ally. The guests, Danni and Leni, TTG, Hatter.

"Go!" she shouted at the mercenary as she would one of her own agents, the regular enforcement in her voice triggering some instinctual piece of Hatter's mind so that she obeyed instantly, allowing Rvlakia to tackle the terrorist without concern for the Queen. She was aware of the guests around fleeing, also responding to the simple instruction, even as she jammed her knee into the man's stomach and subsequently her palm up under his chin; he went flying backwards at the same speed she was hurtling forward and it was all she could do to shift her trajectory to the side as she fell. The bomb detonated milliseconds before she hit the floor and she could feel shattered glass slicing through her skin as she skidded over shards toward the gaping expanse that had appeared in the window.

Hanging over the edge, Rvlakia's fading consciousness dimly noted again how impractical dresses were. Hatter would be there soon. Hatter would save her.

 

* * *

 

 

Everything hurt. Her ribs, her back, her head – it felt like she'd been set on fire, but at the same time it was someone else burning, the pain strong but simultaneously dull from the sheer quantity of drugs that had been forced into her system. Cel had already berated her for her reckless behaviour on three separate occasions, furious at how easily she'd let her guard down because of the presence of royalty. Anyone else would have passed out by now, but not Rvlakia; as a matter of principle, she refused the hand Hatter offered her when getting up and off the train.

"Out of the way," called a man's voice through the crowd at security and she sought out the familiar tone, catching sight of Police Constable Matt – uniform and all – in a matter of seconds. Last she had seen him had been over a month ago as she and Hatter had first been cuffed together so it seemed rather ironic to meet again now when they were finally to be freed. In his hand he held a form from Rage that would allow them to bypass security, presenting it to whoever tried to stop him. "I've got orders from the boss," he explained simply, winking at the pair as he did so; Hatter would hopefully take it as a casual greeting gesture. Rvlakia wanted to tear him apart for the intensely unsubtle reference to her presence there. She let it slide, knowing that somehow he was the best (and certainly most useful) double agent she had.

Rather unexpectedly, Hatter had arranged to meet a prisoner and they found themselves being led to Interrogation Room 3, observing a tall man through the 'glass' wall as he tapped his finger on the table there.  _Tap. Tap. Tap._  It was from this that she had picked up her own habit of tapping, years ago. Rvlakia couldn't help but stare as she saw Disasterwound for the first time in four years; in return he glanced, confused, between her and Hatter as they sat opposite him. It was understandable; after all, he likely had no idea what on Earth his enemy and his former subordinate were doing together.

She had forgotten how it felt to be in the same room as him. It was like he had complete control, knew everything, despite being so obviously not aware that Rvlakia would be visiting him that day.

"I may be caught but I'm no traitor," he said to Hatter as he deduced that she was there for information. "Ask any one of the interrogators of this fine establishment – I don't talk. Unless…"

"What?"

Disaster's eyes shifted to Rvlakia as he paused and she swore mentally, wondering whether he would out her at that moment, in the heart of a prison. She wouldn't put it past him. "Tell me a story," he said after a while, accompanying the request with a grin. It was a phrase she knew well, though the full meaning seemed to pass Hatter by. When Disasterwound asked for a story, he wanted an explanation. The lure of subordination was strong, calling her to relax into the easy life of taking orders, but that wasn't how it would be any more. She was Boss, she was the leader of Open. Disaster's time was done.

Before she could ignore him entirely Hatter was called out of the room by Matt on an excuse that sounded suspiciously fake. The air was still for a few seconds as both waited to see what the other would do first. Eventually, the previous Boss leant across the table and met her eye, amused by something or the other.

"Well hello there, Kia," he greeted politely in the most casual way. Rvlakia automatically tensed, though it seemed Disaster still maintained enough sense to use her alias; it had been his idea in the first place to use a shortened version of her own name for undercover work, since it was easier to respond to without extensive reconditioning. She attempted to ignore him, figuring that that was what Hatter would expect of her. "Come on, Kia, don't give me the silent treatment. We're all friends here." He smiled and she cursed, knowing that the interaction would seem suspicious to anyone. The apparently sociable tone Disaster had adopted masked the true message in his words but she could hear it; explain or I will reveal you.

"It's not the silent treatment," she replied eventually. "I just have nothing to say to you." Rvlakia forced her voice to remain steady despite the anger coursing through her, causing her hands to shake as she resisted both the urge to run and the need to punch someone. If he thought he could threaten her then he was severely wrong – the respect she gave him ought to be returned in full.

"That stings," Disaster joked, placing a hand over his heart briefly to emphasise his sarcasm; rather, it was a signal, the kind one might share with a partner as they cheated at card games, showing his willingness to play along. He wasn't going to turn her in, but he still wanted the story. "But tell me; how did someone like  _you_  end up with someone like Hatter? Someone so prepared with someone so..."

He waited for her to fill in the blank and for some reason it made Rvlakia angrier when she should have been able to calm down. "Naïve?" she completed, thinking of no better word to describe Hatter's attitude toward her. Really, all it had taken was the pretence of helplessness for the mod to take her places she really shouldn't have. Had it not occurred to her that taking Kia straight to the entrance of a scraper and letting her go alone from there would have been far easier than allowing her to wait to be personally delivered home? It was just amateur.

"And what was  _that_?" Disaster queried, reaching for Kia's left arm briefly before stopping, his head tilted to remind her about the containment field he was in. Disguising the action as a flinch, she drew her wrist to her chest to let him see the cuff she wore. "Logic says it isn't, but my eyes tell me that's pseuvi technology…" When he finally noticed the chain running out through the 'glass' the clue fell together in his head, clicking as he worked out roughly what had happened. "Oh! You're shackled together! How amusing."

Rvlakia cast her hand back under the table in the semblance of someone who'd realised their mistake, hitting the metal leg as she did so; another signal, that the situation was according to plan. "Hatter saved me," she practically screeched as Kia, letting Disaster understand the character she had going, "and I know I should be sorry for holding her back all this time but I wouldn't change a second of it! Now, I don't know what you want from me–"

"Don't fret, child," Disaster complied, playing a character to match the story. He called her a 'child' to make her seethe, knowing exactly what would irritate her without giving cause for a fight. "It's just nice to have a conversation with a person who isn't openly disgusted by what I've done. It is difficult to find someone in prison who doesn't know me."

 

* * *

 

 

Rvlakia's eyes widened as a weight rested itself against her shoulder, the sleeping form of Hatter having slipped from its upright position. Understandably, the mod was tired, but she never would have expected quite to this extent. The image of it was slightly surreal, Hatter sleeping beside her nemesis on the train that was taking them away from the prison. It was, Rvlakia hoped, a sign of the trust Hatter had for her. The handcuffs were gone now so she was relying on the past few months of groundwork she had constructed to keep her in the circle of moderators; in short, she needed everyone to just forget to send her back home.

Turning away from the mercenary, Rvlakia watched absently as scrapers passed by the windows, none any different from the others, the same stamp on the sky over and over again. The fury she had witnessed today… well, it terrified her. What could make someone attack their own friends the way she assumed Rage had been attacked? She hadn't known Hatter was capable of such an overpowering emotion, and she wondered just what kind of person could incite the response. There were ways to find out, of course, and she immediately sent a message to Jessi to have Open's members follow up any possible leads from Hatter's past. Likely most of the agents would relish the opportunity to take this Low Risk mission, having not had a lot to do over the past weeks of hiding. It would be a simple information gathering, nothing more. Rvlakia wanted to know who the blight in Hatter's life was. She just wanted to understand.

 

* * *

 

 

Rvlakia's wrist crashed down to her side as she finished talking to Jessi. Mineos was gone, and it was her fault. If she hadn't asked her agents to follow leads about this 'Downfall' then the explosives in 12 T would never have been detonated; Graves's death was on her too, and the hundreds of strangers' she'd never encountered. And yet she didn't cry for any of them, the calm in her heart preventing outbursts of emotion as it kept her level by deadening everything.

Not to mention Hallie's condition was deteriorating too. It wouldn't be long now, she knew, before the commander's code fell apart and she crumbled into nonexistence. Viruses weren't supposed to survive this long, but she still had need of V-8112 to achieve her goal.

"Everything alright, Kia?" Peace asked, startling her. She was a little ways from his desk, far enough that he couldn't have heard her low-toned comments to Jessi. Suddenly remembering where she was, Rvlakia pulled up the excuse she had given for the call from her memory; family residing in that scraper.

"What? Oh, yes, they were all on Level 50 at the time so they're safe." The lie tasted bitter in her mouth as she denied Mineos's existence, so very wrong that she not acknowledge him, but necessary to maintain her cover.

"Kia, I need you to run over to the records room and pick up the 12 T file," Hollow instructed and Rvlakia got the odd sense she had just lost a few moments. Complying quietly, she headed straight for the towering cabinets on the far side of the Level, having to use a step ladder to actually reach the file. The stack of paperwork was heavy and she bundled it up into her arms to take it back safely; she almost made it, too. A few metres before Hollow and Peace would have been in sight her foot caught on an aberrant obstruction that stuck out into the makeshift path, sending her tumbling forward. Sheets leapt from her hands, fanning out in front of her on the cold floor as she just lay on her side staring at them. It took a few seconds to register what had happened and then she was moving again, pulling the file toward herself and attempting to sort it into some form of order.

Several other items had fallen during the collision so she collected these too, to put them back where they belonged and mask any evidence of her falling. Rvlakia's hand alighted on something familiar and she studied the device and its purple glow before slipping it into her pocket. One never knew when these kinds of things would be useful. Satisfied that the paperwork was all together again (though not as neatly as previously) Rvlakia stood; the pain in her ribs intensified at the motion, already upset at her for crashing into the floor, but she didn't feel the ache. She didn't feel any of it.

 

* * *

 

 

The Grief Pretence, as she liked to call it, was an interesting experiment. For a start, she hadn't expected Mez of all people to get involved, and it had only made things more hilarious when the Confession had actually spelt out the five stages of grief that Rvlakia had been adhering to so blatantly. It was enough to make her concede defeat (as it were) after 'bargaining' in honour of Mezola's intuition, which had twice now gotten the better of her. Besides, the test had already proven to bear positive results if Hatter teaming up with her enemy was anything to go by. She could have let Kia free, let her go home like originally intended, but instead the mercenary had followed in order to repair the friendship that they had.

Hatter needed her. Like an addiction, Rvlakia had wormed her way into a vulnerable brain and made herself quite at home there, imprinting an emotional bond alongside the physical one of the pseuvi handcuffs. This experiment let her know for certain that, even though they were no longer bound together, Hatter was going to keep her around for an indefinite length of time; it was surprisingly easy to elicit an automatic flinch from the mod every time Rvlakia rejected her with body language at the Confessions' orphanage.

She frowned. The Confessions… they were interesting. Dangerous, she'd wager, if they ever found out who she really was. And they would eventually, no doubt about it. Mostly it was concerning that they seemed to be a large organisation but Rvlakia had met only a few of them, yet those few were all threats in their own rights. Mez, a freshly qualified mercenary, skilled far beyond her years; Potato, his abnormal strength kept well under check and yet also impatient to be used; Walama, gifted with Dragon technology and the power of foresight it granted her.

Most people, including Hatter, saw Dragons as execrable people, suffering under the burden of machinery they were incapable of handling. But Rvlakia knew the reality that Dragon technology was truly a boon if only one could control it. Walama clearly could. The Boss thought again about what she had said – "The Sky will fall, when one becomes two but is still one." Something about it stuck a chord but deciphering the message was a waste of time; no, Rvlakia was more interested in the tale Mez had recounted about why she had been at the library. Out of nowhere Walama had said "2, R, 78, plus one. Go.", which appeared as simple as directions, but the fact that she had included the 'plus one' comment disturbed her. Mez had thought it was in reference to Kia's presence, but Rvlakia saw it as something else. A name. More appropriately, a nickname. Peace had called her that from day one, but no one else ever had, so how had Walama known it?

Rvlakia pulled her back away from the cold glass wall of the room she and Hatter shared, leaning forward as she absently observed the sleeping form of the mercenary. Walama, Mez, Potato, OKD – the moment any of the Confessions got in her way would be the end of them all.

 

* * *

 

 

"Is this why you hate Open so much? Why you are working so hard to destroy them?" Rvlakia prodded at the fire with a long piece of splintered wood, mind racing over everything Hatter had just told her. The mercenary was completely worn out, she figured, because only someone pushed to the final limit of exhaustion would talk about their past so freely. Downfall, part of Open Empire; the organisation had been bigger back then, but there was still a very good chance that Rvlakia had met the man. Or boy, she supposed, since Hatter had claimed they were the same age upon meeting.

"Part of it, I suppose. Though they are dangerous in their own right, so I'd be getting rid of them anyway," the mod replied, fists clenched as she stared at the fire.

"I guess their leader had better watch out then." Rvlakia couldn't meet her eyes. Knowing Hatter's vendetta against Open was so personal made the whole matter feel odd, like she should have left this particular mod alone and chosen another to trick. Part of her wanted to support the justified vengeance but doing that meant losing; on the other hand, winning meant that Hatter would forever be fixated on Open.

"Certainly." An awkward silence fell between them, Rvlakia not wanting to say anything and Hatter likely with nothing left to. The popping and hissing of the fire only made it worse, just the wrong level of distraction that it made her hyper-aware of every movement of the mod. "So, you look tired," Hatter commented out of nowhere, her tone laden with a false cheer.

"So do you," the Boss replied, following her lead and forcing a grin. "Why don't you sleep? I'll wake you up in two hours and we'll swap."

"Sounds good."

Hatter was out like a light the second her head hit the pillow she had created by folding her coat, but Rvlakia left a full half hour to make absolutely certain she wouldn't wake. During that time she put her mind to identifying Downfall in her memories, aligning Hatter's tale with her own recollection of events from four years ago, and it seemed all too soon that she had sorted it out. This left her wanting for a distraction, so she finally turned her attention to the odd placement of crates behind her. She had noticed it whilst Hatter had been searching for materials to make the fire, the strange disorder in the plastic stacks like someone had chucked one crate on top of the others and couldn't be bothered to neaten it. Certain Hatter was under and wouldn't wake, she stood and padded over to the offending box.

Immediately after opening it she wished she hadn't. The stench of death emanated from the container, filling her head with the sound of flesh peeling and burning as if she were witnessing the death of the bodies she saw first-hand. Two of them, a male and a female from what she could tell, had been stuffed inside the cramped space like nothing more than toys; something about them struck her as familiar and it was with a grim expression she noticed the partially melted pins they both wore. They were Open members.

Upon reaching this realisation, the female moved, turning her head toward the dimly lit visage of Rvlakia that was leaning over them. "Boss…?" she croaked hesitantly, as if not believing what she saw.

"Yes," Rvlakia nodded, wondering what had happened that they were in such a state. Some kind of detonation had occurred earlier and under other circumstances she would have thought that that was the cause of their injuries (to put it lightly) but there had been too little time between the blast and her own sequestering in the storeroom for two bodies to have been hidden there. Which meant that they'd been fried before it all, perhaps several hours ago if she judged by the death state of the male figure there. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Lisa… and Pyro…" the girl wheezed. "Field… division…" A wracking cough raced through her and she expelled ashes into the air.

Rvlakia knew them; the damage done to them was so horrific that she doubted even their closest friends would have recognised them now. "What happened?" she asked firmly, voice calm and commanding. There was nothing she could do but find out exactly what had caused their deaths.

"The Wall was… attacked by… another group. We fought but they–" her throat rasped at the strain of forcing out more words, "they had… weapons we'd never… seen before…"

"They set the fire?"

Lisa's chest moved erratically, staccato, and it took Rvlakia a minute to twig that she was laughing. "Pyro," she said in simple explanation. "We were… trying to… escape when they used the… weapons… Didn't get away… in time."

Rvlakia nodded. Pyro had been a combustion expert, hence his alias; if he had misjudged their ability to get away from any attack he made then he really must not have known the power of the weapons he faced. It was likely that, after whatever accident had befallen them, someone from the opposing force had stashed their bodies away like this. There was no evidence of a fire in this room, nor any tracks of burnt human that would inevitably be made by Lisa moving them about. No, their bodies had been hidden here, left for dead and kept safely out of the way so as not to impede the take-over. "I'll make them pay," she declared, making herself sound more angry for Lisa's sake. The girl attempted a smile in return but said nothing more, her consciousness obviously wavering. "I'll come back for you when I'm done," Rvlakia assured, fully intending to do so. As part of Open, it was only right that she arrange their funerals.

"Thank you…" Lisa murmured. "We'll… wait."

Rvlakia replaced the lid of the crate and returned to where she had been sitting by the fire minutes earlier. It was infuriating, the loss of three good agents in so short a time span: Mineos, a prodigy of the Liaison division; Pyro, sheer destructive force from Field; Lisa, perhaps the best sniper they had had. All dead, because of Downfall and whoever was responsible for the take-over at the Outer Wall. She scowled, picking up a stick of wood and prodding the fire again. The smell that had flooded the air when she opened the crate was still hanging about but she figured that by the time she had to wake Hatter it would have dissipated.

With an annoyed sigh she relaxed against a stack of crates, knowing that two corpses lay no more than a metre behind her back.

 

* * *

 

 

"It sure is something, isn't it?"

Rvlakia couldn't help the question, utterly enraptured by the expanse of water framed before her. At any moment the floor could give way beneath her but she didn't put any thought to that possibility, instead studying the minute change in quality of grey at the horizon as the ocean met the Mist. Vaguely, she was aware that Hatter's head had turned to face her, a bemused look on her face.

"I suppose so."

"I wonder what's out there. Like, if you just started sailing, what might you find?" It was something she had put her mind to a lot in her younger days, hours spent just watching the elaborate pattern of waves from the top of the Kent Wall with her grandfather, how they threw ships about without concern for anyone who might be on board. Most people would never know what it felt like to be so close to nature, choosing to sequester themselves away in the glass boxes that were skyscrapers.

"Given the direction, America."

Rvlakia frowned at Hatter's mulish reply. "You  _know_ what I  _mean_."

"I'm not sure I do." The mod's own expression morphed into a slightly lighter version of Rvlakia's. "There's nothing out there Kia, nothing but water and cities. You won't find enormous creatures or land above sea level or Atlantis or whatever. There's no reason to go out there by yourself."

Something inside of Rvlakia twisted, hearing more in the comment than Hatter had intended to say. It was with a dull, imaginary  _thud_  that the Boss resigned herself to the truth of it, that they weren't nearly as alike as she had hoped. Hatter didn't have it; she wasn't the same. The revelation shouldn't have disappointed her so much but for some reason Rvlakia couldn't help it. She met her guardian's eyes briefly before averting her gaze again, muttering, "Would you keep going please?"

 

* * *

 

 

Rvlakia was startled awake by Hater shaking her, saying something about 'guests' and 'getting up'. The events of the previous day came flooding back and she finally remembered where she was, as well as what Hatter had done last night. Realising the significance of it, she rolled off of the bed and onto the floor. "Go ahead. I'll catch up," she mumbled, affecting a half-asleep tone that was (unsurprisingly) rather easy to pull off. Within seconds Hatter had gone and she was left truly alone for the first time in months.

The door had barely closed when Rvlakia jumped up, dressing at record speed and setting to work. She exited the room herself and headed across the Common to the closest lift, opening it through a brief exchange with Juke that just seemed wrong now she was alone. No sooner was she in the metal box than she clambered onto the hand rail, reaching for the escape hatch in the ceiling; it swung down easily and she scrambled through it and into the dim lift shaft, calling out a name quietly. Sound carried well there and in mere moments Cel dropped into sight, cutting a swift path down the supports in an extremely practised manner.

"Boss," she greeted, joining Rvlakia on the lift roof.

"You have something for me?" the leader replied, more a request than a question. It felt good to be able to drop the semblance she had adopted with no fear of being found out, given the lack of cameras in the enclosed bore. Cel nodded, holding out two flat disks strung on pieces of grey ribbon. Rvlakia took hem cautiously, noting that the stone on one of the storage devices was lit up. "Ah, I see Hallie is joining us," she commented with a light smile.

"Jessi sent her like that," Cel explained simply. "So, what's next, Boss?"

"We go downstairs." Tying the devices around her wrist like bracelets, Rvlakia lowered herself back into the lift proper, Cel following and closing the hatch behind them. Still waiting for the destination, the elevator was all too ready to move when she instructed it toward Level 98. It took but a moment to get there and then she directed Cel to follow her, in plain sight, out to the entrance of Hollow's workshop. "It's seems like something big is happening and I'd rather find out what it is before I go," Rvlakia clarified as she caught sight of the agent's bemused look.

**_Welcome back, Kia. Who is behind you?_ **

"A Flukasaur, Cel." It was wrong, saying those words. They were not words she was allowed to say; they were for Hatter, or Sky, or Peace, or Hollow.

 ** _Welcome, Cel. I look forward to working with you._**  A brief pause, then the door opened for them.

"Interesting," Cell muttered, glancing around at the workshop as they entered. Rvlakia immediately set a path for one of the smaller terminals she knew were scattered all over the place, booting up the system as her smaller companion kept an eye out for anyone who might have been aware of their presence. It took a painfully long time for them to accomplish the task, or so it seemed, but eventually Rvlakia had managed to accomplish what she had come for.

Now that she was in the register, Juke's attitude to being downloaded had completely changed, practically offering up a free copy for the second device on her wrist. The white stone on it glowed happily and Rvlakia's consciousness jumped back two months to when she had first attempted this in Hatter's Ground Level apartment. So much work had gone into obtaining this CI that now everything felt a bit anticlimactic, not to mention  _wrong_. Hatter had trusted her and now Kia was immediately betraying that; it really was foul of her to do something like this.

"Boss?" Cel called, dragging Rvlakia out of her reverie. Switching the computer off, she turned to her executive.

"Stay here. Be prepared to make a quick exit. I'll call if I need you."

Cel nodded, stepping into the shadow of a larger contraption to make herself nigh impossible to see. Assured that her agent was guarding the exit, Rvlakia turned on her heel and marched toward the central console where she knew people would have gathered, letting the persona of Kia cover her true identity for the last time.

 

* * *

 

Rvlakia dropped onto her bed, exhaling a great sigh the likes of which she hadn't for the past few months. This was her home, her room, and without a doubt she was more comfortable here than anywhere else. The bed wasn't too soft, the lighting was just right, it didn't smell weird; she had missed it. Surrounded by her collection of oddities, Rvlakia held up her wrist to examine the new item she would eventually add. The stone on Juke's device glowed merrily, the last remaining trace of him now that Hal had completely destroyed his core at Hollow's workshop. Speaking of Hallie, the commander had rejoined them on their way back to headquarters, assuming her place in the other disk. Allowing Hallie to take human form again would be risky; her structure had become so unstable that it was likely she'd just fall apart within seconds. Rvlakia had to do something about that.

The door opened and Rvlakia sat up to see who it was, Jessi peering into the room and grinning as he caught sight of her. A similar expression formed on her own face as she stood up to greet her old friend. "Didn't think you'd make it back," Jessi joked, pacing into the room proper. "Thought I'd have to take your place as the Boss."

"It's nice to know you have such great confidence in me," Rvlakia smirked, making her way over to her work table and untying the disks from her wrist, setting them down gently for later. "You've done well, Jess."

"Yeah, well, it's just nice having you back, Kia." His face morphed into a grimace. "Do I have to keep calling you that?"

"No, we're in the clear now. They know who I am anyway." Forcing her executives to call her by the alias during her absence meant that there were less likely to be any slip ups should Hatter or one of the other mods have encountered them. It had only been a small chance, but she had to prepare for every eventuality. She headed over to a set of cupboards and crouched down to access the one she used for mugs. "Dammit," she muttered as her hair fell over her shoulder and into her way. "I can't  _stand_  having my hair down anymore!"

Jessi chuckled, joining her as she stood and practically slammed two mugs down on the surface beside the kettle. "Thought you might say that." Rvlakia glanced over to see him nonchalantly holding out a hairband, her frown disappearing in a nanosecond.

"How on Earth did I live without you?" she chuckled, taking the proffered gift.

"Not a clue."


	62. As We Are Today

"Here."

Hatter was startled out of her reverie, head moving to look up slightly too fast and leaving her with an unpleasant nausea at the back of her throat. Sky was holding out a glass of water for her to take; she accepted automatically, noting the slight swelling on the underside of her colleague's chin. "Thanks," she muttered more quietly than intended.

"No problem." Sky stood awkwardly for a while, studying Hatter carefully. "So how'd they get you?" she asked eventually, attempting to make conversation even though nobody was really in the mood to talk. Nearby, Hollow, Fluke and Rage were having the most serious conversation ever witnessed whilst Evanz was rifling wearily through the drawers and under papers on the desk in search of something he'd been asked to locate. Figit still seemed as calm as ever, swinging his legs in time with the song he was humming. He was infuriating.

"What do you mean?" Hatter queried, taking a sip of water to alleviate the dryness in her mouth. The motion smarted as her bitten tongue reminded her of its injury.

"Well," Sky moved to sit next to her on a box that contained… something, neither of them was sure what exactly, "that lackey – Cel, I think it was? – got me here, which is why I fell." She pointed to the mark on her jaw. "Never thought a palm could hurt so much. Though Eryn got it worse than I did." In a synchronised movement they both glanced over at Sky's partner who was leaning back against the desk, obviously still out of it. On her left temple was a nasty looking bruise, harsh red in newness. Hatter could almost picture the scene: Cel slamming a hand up at Sky and then using the momentum to spin more force into a kick aimed at Eryn, both attacks to the effect of knocking them to the ground. Effective. Not to mention Peace, who was sat on the floor with his head between his knees to reduce the urge to repeat his earlier expulsion. "So what about you?"

"Oh, right. Well Ki– I got my jaw kicked and I bit myself," Hatter shrugged, downplaying the injury and unsubtly trying to smooth over her words. "Mostly it's just Juke…"

"Yeah." The sound of the CI being destroyed had cut through them all, the ringing in their ears refusing to settle even an hour after it was all over and making it difficult for them to concentrate. Even if anyone  _had_  been capable of mounting a chase they wouldn't be able to escape the workshop since Juke's last act had been sealing it completely and without him they couldn't reverse the command. Hollow would surely work around it eventually but who knew how long that could take.

Hatter took another sip of her water, the backwash tinging it an almost imperceptible shade of pink; she couldn't help staring at the fluid as if she could look hard enough that she would be able to make out the individual molecules, neat little H2Os being bashed aside as loosed blood cells made their confused way from one side of the glass to the other, lost without their primary purpose of keeping her alive. Every few moments Hatter made to check that Kia was alright – then she would remember and the betrayal would hit all over again. It was a cruel, self-inflicted, repetitive torture that made her lose track of time completely. She was vaguely aware of Sky trying to continue the conversation and faltering as she received no response, finally heading over to attend to her paramour. Hatter didn't blame her.

"Is this it?" Evanz asked, his tone bordering on excited as he presented an item to Hollow and voice a tad too loud for comfort. And yet his three little words, an insignificant sentence at any other time, disturbed the despondent atmosphere, catching everyone's interest in a second as he anxiously handed over the result of his questing. Without realising it Hatter had stood to get a better view of the object, a flash of confusion passing through her brain as she saw a brecciated jasper change hands, Hollow's careful handling of the red stone indicating its importance. Whatever data was stored there, it was clearly essential if they had decided the best course of action was to find it.

"Yes," Hollow answered simply, turning it over a few times as he inspected the surface for any flaws; a distant part of Hatter's mind dimly commented that the shape was a bipyramidal hexagonal prism and given Sky's bewildered glance there was every chance the mercenary had accidently said so aloud. Hollow sucked in a short breath, nodded his satisfaction and sat down heavily in front of his main computer, wiring in the stone as quickly as he could.

By this point the listless mods (and Peace) had latched onto the modicum of progress as their subconscious habit to await orders kicked in, the four of them drifting over to see what Hollow was doing. Fluke and Rage had sat back, obviously unsure what was happening but content to let the situation unfold in the safe hands of their colleague.

Peace's eyes narrowed for a moment as he saw the jasper, widening again as a staccato gasp escaped his throat unintentionally and made several people jump. "Is that… Is that what I think it is?"

"Probably."

"Fill us in?" Eryn prompted. Rage's head tilted slightly and Hatter knew he was glad he wasn't the one who had to ask.

"It's an AI," Peace replied as it became apparent that Hollow had given up on explaining. "The last one he made before Juke." At the frown on Hatter's face he continued, realising her query. "I suppose it's more appropriate to say he made them at the same time; he finished Juke about a week after, which is why you never knew about this one. Did you actually give it a name?" The last part he directed at Hollow, who had finished the manual connection and was now setting up the AI.

"Gubiak," he nodded. "I had intended it to be the carrier system but as you've probably guessed, Juke rendered him rather obsolete. But they have the same foundation framework, so this should suffice for basic functions." A few more seconds of furious tapping and an impossibly fast string of instructions appearing onscreen, unreadable to Hatter but making complete sense to the two geniuses in the room, then with a final push of finality Hollow hit the enter button.

**Intelligence designated 'Gubiak' is now online.**

The weapons merchant crossed his arms with a look of satisfaction, whilst Fluke's face twisted at the sound of the AI speaking. "What's with the accent?"

"I picked the speech set at random," Hollow shrugged. "It's fine, isn't it? Gubiak, reverse the lockdown."

**Reversing lockdown.**

"Well this certainly makes me feel a little better," Sky muttered. "Though it isn't quite the same as Juke."

"Right," Peace agreed. "But don't forget that Gubiak doesn't have independent thought; he's just a program. We can't rely on him too much."

**Reversal complete.**

Hollow swivelled his chair around and glanced a Fluke, who rolled his eyes and indicated for everyone to gather properly in a circle for a rather old-school briefing. "Now we can get out, all that's left is figuring out what to do next. Suggestions?"

"Raid the Open base at full force?" suggested Eryn satirically.

"Can't contact our operatives," Peace said, shaking his head. "Our communications were all on Juke's latest version and Gubiak is too far back for that. I'm afraid your devices are nothing more than decoration."

"Not to mention everyone's still working clean up," Rage added. "It's not in the people's best interest to take helpers away from that."

Nodding, Fluke agreed. "That's true." He turned his chair from left to right for a little bit, thinking. "What do we know? What have we got on Open that will help us? Sky?"

The mod in question crossed her arms as she prepared to reel off the information she'd gathered over the course of her investigation. "Open's base is in District 3, Building W. I located an entrance but haven't been able to break through it, and there are clearly several more ways in. My sources tell me that the group numbers somewhere between one and two hundred members and seems to have some form of divisional system; I've heard reference to three so far."

"Do they have any specialities we need to be prepared against?"

Sky frowned. "I'm not sure. If anything, their specialty is keeping hidden in plain sight."

"Yes, I wonder why that might be," Fluke muttered sarcastically. Hatter glared at him sharply but was ignored. "Any people of note?"

"A few dangerous individuals among the mass but nothing we can't handle. From our, ah, experiences, let's say, there are four prominent figures in the organisation: a hacker who can build an Inducer; the blonde girl who took down the trains–"

"V-8112," Hatter supplied monotonously. "It takes human form, like Figit." She glanced up at the program, who was still just sitting on the desk and swinging his legs, unconcerned by the conversation taking place.

"Okay, so a living computer virus," Sky amended. "Then there's this Cel girl, who clearly knows how to neutralise enemies, and Ki- Rvlakia, obviously." Hatter's hands clenched at the name and her mouth pulled into a tight line, motions which didn't go unnoticed but went unmentioned. "I'd say we have to be careful of all of them."

Fluke's hands made a steeple under his chin as he considered the information he'd just been provided, as well as assessing the current state of the troops, so to speak. 3 mods, all injured but nowhere near out of commission. Two geniuses. A sentient data construct of as-yet unknown value. An expert programmer, the ultimate corporate CEO and himself. Nine people.  _Nine_  people. The prospects weren't great but still, he reckoned that with a bit of luck they might be able to pull it off. "We need to get moving as soon as possible, before Kia accomplishes whatever she means to do. You have half an hour to get ready, then–"

"With all due respect," Evanz interrupted without a hint of respect in his voice, "we need some time to recuperate. Or would you rather have Peace decorate more than just the floor with the contents of his stomach?" Eyebrow raised, he gestured toward the man in question who was looking particularly green as whatever blow he had been dealt continued to plague him. "Not to mention Eryn is clearly concussed, even if only mildly, I've already been up for 36 hours with endless meetings, and Hatter… well, we just need to rest a bit before doing anything. Let's not be rash."

Fluke scowled. "And what if Kia ends the world in the time we're sleeping?"

Evanz sighed. "Even Open can't avoid using my products, which means they have Tower in the base. Figit can keep an eye on them and alert us if anything starts to happen. Good enough for you?"

"If he can watch them then why doesn't he just tell us what they're up to?" Rage queried, staring at Figit in interest. His creator shrugged.

"I'm not sure why, but he doesn't want to. But I'm certain he'll do this, won't you?" Figit nodded lazily in response, clearly not at all bothered by what was going on around him. "So Fluke, what do you say?"

Automatically opening his mouth to reject the idea, Fluke paused before actually saying anything. He studied the people sat around and noted the desire in all of their eyes for some rest; knowing that a key factor to their success was morale (essentially, the point at which Hatter switched from shock to anger) it was clear that trying to face Open now was going to end in disaster. "Fine. We'll rest. If nothing happens, then you'll have until tomorrow morning." The immediate sound of relieved sighing consolidated his decision.

"Great," Evanz grinned, exchanging a few words with Figit who in turn nodded and then touched the computer and promptly disappeared. "Will Gubiak let us through?" Evanz asked Hollow to make certain he could actually leave.

"I already entered everyone's bios into the roster," Hollow confirmed. Within a second Evanz had darted for the lift, planning to retire to his room and catch as many hours of sleep as he could.

Not knowing what else to do with her time and not being inclined to use it to any particular end, Hatter copied his example and trudged back to her own habitation. Disturbingly, the doors simply opened after a second of standing in front of them, no voice to say 'hello' or any other indication of an intelligence there. Having not put her coat on earlier she skipped straight to flopping onto the bed, face in the pillow so she wouldn't have to look at the other side of the room where her companion was sleeping not three hours ago. The bed had been made, sheets neatly tucked in but still bearing the nuance of having actually been used. It was such a mundane thing and yet somehow ridiculously distressing.

Hatter let out a shaky breath and turned her head to the side, staring at a blank wall centimetres away. When she woke, they would be going to battle Open. It was finally happening. Admittedly, this wasn't at all the way she thought it would go down but she pushed aside the feeling of wrongness. Open was bad. She was good. This was how things were supposed to be, whether it followed a perfect plan or not. Fluke was crazy to believe they could manage a hundred people with only nine of them though, and only four of that properly trained in combat. She sighed, closing her eyes. It was all a bit of a nightmare really, that they had such a short time frame to work with and hardly any people. If they could just call for reinforcements then things would be a mite easier. But they couldn't. It was just the nine of them, stuck with an impending fight, all alone.

Her eyes opened again and she stared at the wall with a new vigor.

Or… maybe  _not_.


	63. Out of the Dark

Jessi knew something was up the moment he saw Rvlakia's door ajar. Slowing to reduce the noise his feet made, he cautiously entered the room and kept a sharp eye out for anything unusual, signs of anyone being there that shouldn't have been. The lights were out but the display on his goggles immediately located the familiar form of the Boss at her work table, upper half slumped over it in an uncomfortable sprawl where she had collapsed onto the myriad of tools she'd been utilising. The only illumination was the tiny white glow of the storage device that lay by her head, casting dramatic shadows over the shape of her closed eyes. Even as he made his way over to ensure her safety the readings displayed around her told Jessi that she was merely sleeping, not poisoned or murdered or anything of that ilk.

Besides, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened and given the circumstances he couldn't say he blamed her for being exhausted. Last time had been after a visit to her grandfather and she had been passed out halfway onto her bed already; with practised regularity Jessi dragged a thin blanket out from a box beside the work table and laid it over her back, unable to see the tartan but knowing the pattern by heart.

"So it's  _you_  who does that."

The voice came from nowhere and Jessi jumped at the intrusion, not recognising the speaker. Knowing the only entrance was the door (though he actually couldn't be sure of that, what with Rvlakia's personality) he spun to face the sliver of light expecting to see someone there, but there was nothing.

"I'm over here." The unidentified interloper spoke again and switched on one of the lamps at the farthest side of the room. Jessi had barely made eye contact with them when his brain began to screech at him, pain spiking through his conscious and causing him to sway. Knowing the kind of 'attack' this was, Jessi tore his goggles off and threw them to the bed so that they wouldn't break, blinking rapidly to remove as many of the phosphenes from his vision as he could before looking over at the culprit again.

"Who are you?" he growled, deeply unsettled that something had made its way into the very heart of the base without any alarms going off. Something not human, judging by the overload his brain had just received from his precious technology.

"You don't know?" A vague figure stepped further into the light, a quizzical expression on their face. A young man, barely more than 15 if he had to guess, though appearance wasn't the greatest indicator of age in such instances, his blond hair gleaming in the proximity to light as he tilted his head under Jessi's inspection. Something about him seemed familiar but the hacker couldn't place what it was until he glanced down to the striped shirt the stranger was wearing. Jessi's mouth fell open.

" _Hallie_?"

The boy nodded. "Yes." He paused, considering it. "At least, that's who I used to be. I'm not too sure what I am now."

Jessi spared a quick glance to Rvlakia to check that she hadn't been disturbed by his exclamation before trotting over to where the CI stood eerily still. "What happened to you?" he queried, fascinated and disconcerted at the same time.

"Boss fixed my code by copying pieces of Juke's," they explained. "That's what she said to me before she passed out. I've just been… I don't know how to say it… I feel strange." Their brow furrowed. "I'm stable. I'm not dying and it's weird."

Jessi couldn't help the incredulous expression that crept onto his face. "You're complaining about being repaired? Seems a bit egotistical to me, Hallie."

At the name the commander's face scrunched up as though scenting something disgusting. "I'd rather you didn't call me that. You know why I was given the name, right?"

"Yeah, R messing around with numbers and letters; 8, 1, 12 becomes H, A, L and so on," Jessi shrugged. "Seemed appropriate at the time."

"Yes, at the time," they nodded. "But not now. I'm not Hal anymore… I think…"

Jessi looked them up and down, reading the minute haptics that he had learnt to associate with his colleague's moods over their time together, a difficult feat in itself since a creation with no real sense of empathy didn't exactly respond like a normal human being. "You don't seem too upset about that," the hacker commented, allowing a smile to creep onto his face.

"I don't think I am. This…" They considered themselves and then their jaw steeled and blue eyes met those unused to a non-orange world. "This feels  _right_."

"And what name feels right? I've got to know what to call you now, after all."

The commander thought it over for a moment and Jessi could have sworn that they faded slightly during the few seconds of silence. "Ezra. Yeah, I like Ezra." The statement was accompanied by an assured nod.

Jessi sighed and went to drop onto Rvlakia's bed, knowing she wouldn't mind the choice of seat as long as no trace of anyone sitting there was left for her to notice. "As good a name as any, I guess. Wish all of us could be as satisfied as that."

Ezra's head tilted left like a dog's as they padded over to stand at the foot of the bed, paying more attention to the hacker than they ever would have before. "Is that why the Boss calls you 'Jess'?" they said out of the blue, startling Jessi.

"What?"

"I mean, I always wondered why she called you that when she wasn't giving commands but I assumed it was like how you call her 'R'. But it's because she’s the one who knows you best, correct?"

"You do understand that it's not quite as easy for humans to change themselves as it is for you, right?" Jessi snapped, eyes narrowed at the understanding of what was being implied.

"But it  _is_  possible," Ezra replied innocently. "Why haven't you gone through with it?"

Jessi opened his mouth to utter an enraged rebuke but reconsidered at the look on the commander's face. In a long breath he let the feeling go and rubbed at his eyes in a tiredness sympathetic to Rvlakia's. "I was going to, but it would have put me out of commission for a good piece of this fight, and R needed me. Afterwards… for sure. For sure." They made eye contact and a silent understanding passed between them.

"You want to swap?" Ezra offered at length. At the bewildered look on Jessi's face they added, "Pronouns, I mean. There's no reason for people not to get used to it now."

Any hesitation was all a result of surprise rather than reluctance. Jessi hadn't been prepared for Ezra's newfound politeness and sympathy (something that was suspect in itself) and so found himself gaping at the proposition; once the idea had processed through though, it was smiles all around. "Sounds great."

Ezra held out his hand to shake on the deal. Jess reached out with hers to complete the gesture.

"Bloody- damn you!" Jess cursed as her entire right arm went numb at the contact. Ezra cackled and Rvlakia stirred slightly, knocking something metal onto the floor. "I can't believe I forgot about that!"

"Serves you right," the commander smirked, "for forgetting what I am. I might not be just a virus anymore but that doesn't mean I'm harmless, and I'll thank you to remember that in the future."

"I see your sense of humour hasn't suffered any," Jess scowled, cradling the deadened limb close to her body as if it might fall off if left to the clutches of gravity.

"What can I say?" Ezra shrugged, then crossed his arms. "I'm  _hilarious_."

"And  _I'm_  awake," came an angry grumble from the direction of the work table. Still hunched over the surface, Rvlakia had turned only her head to glare at the pair of them with eyes full of a malice that could only be achieved by someone who'd just been woken up. "Mind explaining why you're making such a racket in my room?"

"Your door was open," Jess said nonchalantly, holding up her hands in mock innocence and keeping her tone light. "You have no one to blame but yourself."

"I'm sure." Rvlakia shook her head as she straightened out, stretching the muscles in her back; the blanket Jess had placed on her not long before fell off but caught on the back of the chair rather than folding into a pile on the floor. The Boss stood, making her way over to the kettle with an incessant and inaudible gripe spilling from her lips as she went, accompanied with an infrequent glare at the two executives in the room. "Would one of you  _please_  hit the lights already?" she requested rather indignantly for all her words' politeness as her foot caught on something on the floor and sent it skittering out of place. Jess leapt up and practically smacked the light switch, not wanting to be pegged for execution – which seemed very much possible with Rvlakia's current mood. Once she had a cup of tea safely in hand the tension lightened a bit and she actually seemed curious about what had happened whilst she slept. "So did you two just have an entire conversation in the dark?"

Ezra shrugged. "There was a lamp."

"Yes, because that makes everything seem logical." Rvlakia rolled her eyes but a faint smile betrayed her fondness for their antics, something she had missed whilst she was away. "Well, strange chatting conditions aside, are you two ready for what's to come? Hatter's not going to hold back, and it's highly unlikely any of us will make it out of this without something bad happening. I reckon we have another day, at the most, before the mods attack us. I've already briefed Cel on what she needs to do, but you two still have a choice." She watched them carefully over the rim of her mug. "Now's your last chance to leave."

Ezra scoffed, shaking his head. "Boss, this is the  _second_  time you've saved me from disappearing completely. There's no way you're getting rid of me that easily."

Rvlakia nodded, then turned her attention to the hacker. "Jess? I would understand if this is too far for you."

Jess rolled her eyes and plastered a melodramatic 'are you serious?' expression on her face, leaning forward so that her chin rested on her hands and her elbows on her knees. "What, helping you carry out some crazy scheme that will probably get me killed all while I still don't know what it is you're trying to achieve? I haven't spent the last six years of my life with you just to bail now, R. I'm in."

Rvlakia grinned. "Great. I knew-"

"Oh, on one condition," Jess amended, causing her face to twist in puzzlement. The hacker smirked. "Make me some tea too."


	64. Ready. Set.

When Hatter opened her eyes, she was completely awake. Something was running through her blood, a total calm that she suspected was the cause of her skipping the drowsy period of 'not quite conscious' that she frequently suffered from. Getting to her feet, she prepared her usual cup of tea, aware that maintaining some level of normalcy would help her keep her nerve throughout the day.

She had dreamt while she slept, a dream both disturbing and somehow comforting at the same time. It was a reprieve from the repetitive nightmare she'd suffered under the weight of nigh on five years, and yet caused by the new one she found herself stranded in in reality. A simple dream, just her and Kia talking everywhere and nowhere at the same time – only, it hadn't been Kia as such, a fact which the dream provided utter clarity on despite the conversation’s minutiae escaping the mod now that she was awake. Just the one phrase had stuck with her, the last she had heard before waking: "I forgive you".

Only she couldn't remember which one of them said it.

Tea finished, Hatter turned her attention to the matter at hand. Today they were going to finally take down Open, end an era that plagued her life once and for all. There was no use for dawdling so she slung her bandoliers across her chest resolutely, the leather cold to the touch but familiar and comforting. Someone had called them her version of a safety blanket; she didn't care to recall whom. Already wearing her boots (having forgotten to remove them before sleeping last night) the mod instead went to fetch her coat from where it had been carefully folded onto a chair, taking her time to make sure the collar sat comfortably around her neck and the lapels were straight. A few run downs with her hands erased any creases and with a nod of satisfaction Hatter deemed herself ready, turning to the door and waiting for it to slide open, Gubiak's silence painfully obvious. She stepped out into the expanse of blue that was the Common and breathed in deeply, setting a hard look in her eyes and switching herself into full moderator mode.

Go time.

 

* * *

 

"Does someone mind telling me what this is about?" Fluke asked, angry and quite confused at what stood before them. His tiny band of eight (Figit having returned only momentarily for the briefing before disappearing again) had barely stepped out of the lift when they were greeted with the sight of a trio clearly waiting for them. The shortest one crossed her arms and raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"My question exactly," Mez agreed, gaze flitting between the mods and perhaps the most influential men in the world. Hatter stepped forward to greet her with hands held up in a sign for everyone not to attack one another.

"Glad you could make it," she said out of politeness, though part of her actually meant it for once.

Mez rolled her eyes. "I still don't know what I've made it  _to_ , though. OKD finally finds a suspicious new file at work and all it is is a secret message from you telling me we need to meet here? I'm going to need an explanation now."

"I apologise for all the mystery, Mez," Hatter said, not apologetic in the slightest, "and I'm sorry for not telling you about this." She addressed the latter half of the sentence to her colleagues, specifically Fluke since he seemed most put out by the situation. Turning back to Mez, she continued in an undertone, "You brought Potato and Walama with you?"

"The message didn't say not to," Mez shrugged. "Come on, Hatter. Tell me why I'm here."

Nodding her intent to do so, Hatter stepped back somewhat so that she could face everyone all at once. "We're going to raid a criminal base with fewer people than I can count on my hands. We know where an entrance is but we can't get through it. Seems a little bit unrealistic, if you ask me."

"That doesn't explain why you brought Mez here," Sky pointed out, though she did appear to be more amiable to the idea than the others.

Hatter acknowledged the comment and then turned her attention to the junior mercenary, who was considering whether or not she should just leave if the explanation took much more time. "Mez, you made an offer to Kia to have her join you, am I right?"

Mezola stiffened slightly at the question but her wary expression was replaced by one of bemusement at the odd synchronised intake of breath from the moderator group. "Well I won't deny it," she admitted after a moment, "but I haven't seen her since I last saw  _you_. Why, has she been kidnapped or something?" A slight increase in the smoothness of her speech made it obvious to anyone observant enough that she hadn't been quite telling the truth, or at least not all of it.

"No. As it turns out, Kia is a supervillain," Rage said flippantly. Hollow rolled his eyes.

"I think you might be exaggerating slightly."

"Okay, maybe not a  _super_ villain, but she  _is_  a bad guy," the commissioner conceded.

"You're kidding me?" Mez queried incredulously, looking up at Hatter with wide eyes. "I knew there was something but I didn't think it was that…"

"You're not the only one Rvlakia fooled," Hatter consoled simply, the harsh undertone in her voice causing Sky's eyes to narrow in concern. "But you saw something when I didn't, and you made an offer, which means you've been keeping tabs on her. So, Mezola, tell us what you know."

All eyes rounded on the young mercenary and she quailed slightly at being looked at like prey. The only one not interested was Walama, who was staring at nothing and likely not listening to the conversation at all. Eventually Mez gave way. "Fuck. Okay then. Hissey saw someone matching her description over in District 3 yesterday. Figured she was with you," she looked pointedly at Hatter, "though I guess that was an incorrect assumption on our part."

"District 3?" Peace probed. "That didn't happen to be Building W, did it?" At Mez's nod he shared a glance with Fluke. "That confirms that they've retreated to their base. At least we won't have to locate a new hiding place."

"That's a plus," Evanz added.

"Hold up," Potato said, finally speaking for the first time. "You say Kia is a bad guy, and that she's gone back to her base in 3 W? Are you telling us she's part of  _Open_?"

Hatter stared at him, blinking in surprise. "You know about them?"

"'Course we do. Got wind of them about, what, five months back? We've had eyes on their entrances for ages now."

Mez glanced at him sideways, an idea forming in her head. "You didn't just call me here for info, did you?" she asked, somewhat accusatorily.

"No," Hatter conceded, shaking her head. "I figured having an extra person to help couldn't hurt us." She shot down the irritated look Fluke was giving her with one of her own. "Or three extra, I guess. You up for it?"

"Fuck yes." Mez grinned impishly, and Walama finally seemed to realise that a conversation was taking place.

"Are you crazy?" Fluke exclaimed, unable to take it anymore. "What are you doing Hatter? You can't bring them in on this." The attempt at exerting authority backfired as the mod wheeled on him and Fluke cursed his own stupidity for forgetting that Hatter was not in her usual state of mind and couldn't be dealt with as he might usually think.

"I don't care  _what_  piece of your brain got knocked loose yesterday, but until it's back in its right place you have  _no_  say in how we plan this raid," she snapped. "Look at what you're trying to do here! You're planning to take down an entire organisation with  _eight people,_  Fluke! And only half of them can fight! So shut your bloody face until you can actually think properly." She glared at him for a second longer then faced Mez again, expression switching to a light smile. "Glad to have you guys on board."

"Wha…" Fluke stared at the mod, dumbfounded.

"I'm with Hatter on this one," Evanz shrugged, shoving his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

"Same," Rage agreed, almost singing the word. "You're not yourself right now, Fluke."

"Just let it go," Peace instructed quietly, patting the blond on the back dismissively. Realising he had no leg to stand on, Fluke backed down and fell silent, though the reticence didn't stop him from shooting dirty looks at his traitor friends.

"So you got any plan we should know?" Mez asked Hatter.

"Get in; catch as many as we can."

"Nice. Simple. My kind of plan."

"The end begins."

Walama's voice was quiet and yet somehow caught all of their attentions, some watching her with utter confusion at the strangeness in the words and others recognising the weight behind them. "Well, if that's anything to do with us then I guess something is happening at Open's base," Potato said, a joking tone in his voice though his face was remarkably serious. Walama paid him no heed, instead staring at something behind Eryn. Catching on to some of her meaning, Hatter followed the Dragon's gaze to the elevator control panel, both surprised and not at the same time to see a figure coalesce around it, quickly taking the form of the missing Figit.

"Evanz," he said hurriedly, causing several people to jump as they hadn't realised he'd been there. "Open are on the move."

"They're leaving?" The CEO turned to face him.

"No, preparing. For you." He glanced across the group, which wasn't in itself odd, but Hatter couldn't help noticing how Walama's eyes followed the movement of his head with unmitigated precision.

"They know we're coming. Damn," Sky muttered.

"We never had surprise on our side," Hatter reminded everybody. "It's unfortunate but Rvlakia knows us. She probably figured we'd be after her before she'd even left." Every time she used the name it became slightly easier to keep up her collected attitude, distancing the image of the girl she had in her mind from the reality she stood before. "It's no reason to turn back now. We  _will_  take Open out, and we  _will_  make sure Rvlakia never walks free again."

" _Justice_ ," Mez grinned.


	65. Go

“What on Earth did I do with it?”

Ezra heard Rvlakia cursing before he saw her, lifting every item on her work table for a mere moment before slamming it back down again, intent on finding whatever it was that had been misplaced. “Boss, is it urgent?” he queried, announcing his presence to her. Where the abrupt sound of someone talking would have scared anyone else, Rvlakia just took it in her stride as though they had already been mid-conversation.

“Fairly.” The blanket came off the back of the chair and was thrown at the box it usually resided in.

“It’s just, the moderators are at our door now.” Ezra moved around the desk in time to see Rvlakia’s face darken even further.

“Then this is more urgent than before. Hold this. I need both hands.” Without checking to see if Ezra was ready, the boss thrust the storage device that contained Juke into his hands, causing the CI to jump in surprise and a small amount of fear.

“I mustn’t touch this!” Ezra began to say, though he only made it to the second word before realising he had thrown the disk a tiny ways and stopped speaking so he could catch it. His instinct had screamed for a second that he shouldn’t handle it, having spent literally his entire life up to that point avoiding any unnecessary contact with programmed goods. His instability had dictated a randomness with which his virus had erased whatever he was currently touching (as he recalled, Jess had gotten worked up about some virtual pets thing) so it felt remarkably strange to hold something with the knowledge that it would be fine.

“You’ll get used to it,” Rvlakia said off-handedly, seemingly reading his mind.  With both hands she was now scouring her table at twice the speed, barely glancing at the areas she uncovered prior to moving on. “Makes things quite a bit easier for you, if I had to hazard a guess. Aha!” Finally finding what she had been seeking underneath a tangle of wires she had stripped from something or the other, Rvlakia slipped it into her pocket and held out her hand for Juke, who went into her other pocket. All set, she straightened her hair and smirked at Ezra. “So, Hatter’s here? I’d best get on my way.”

Ezra trailed after her as she headed toward the door, switching the lights off as they exited. “Actually, Hatter isn’t there,” he said simply, recalling the report he’d received from one of his own division not minutes ago.

“Oh?” Rvlakia phrased the sound as a question but a very obvious part of her tone displayed disappointment. So Hatter had been left behind, probably benched by Fluke – so what? It would definitely make her life easier. And yet… it felt wrong for the mod to not be there at the end of it all. “Interesting. How many people have they got then?”

“Nine. And Figit.” It was with a deliberate terseness that Ezra mentioned the other CI, maintaining a calm façade.

Rvlakia raised an eyebrow, directing one of the Tech unit to a new task as he crossed paths with them in the hallway. “Only nine? I wonder why that is. Surely they’re not underestimating us?” The last question was rhetorical, joking in nature and bright in a way only Rvlakia could manage at such a delicate time. Honestly, she could think of a few reasons why the attacking force was small, most notably the fact that she held the only remains of their communication systems. “I suppose they brought the best with them,” she said, her knowledge of certain mods not quite matching the number at their doorstep.

“You can see for yourself,” Ezra replied as they walked into the main hub. It was crowded with Tech and Liaison members, scurrying around the rows of computers in an attempt to efficiently carry out whatever job they had been assigned. At the centre of the room hung a large screen currently displaying a live feed of what had been dubbed as the ‘front door’, the entrance that they had realised Sky was monitoring and had forbidden the use of since. The group of invaders was obvious on the screen, huddled around the door as they attempted to get access to the base. That particular entrance was located on Level 72, so once they got in everyone would have a decent amount of time to scarper if they weren’t needed. Rvlakia wasn’t cruel; she’d given the members the choice whether to leave or not. Some had leapt at the chance, not wanting to even risk getting themselves onto the moderators’ radar. Others were staying for now, and some plain refused to leave, Jess and Ezra among them.

“How are we doing?” Rvlakia asked as one such person hurried over to them upon noticing her arrival.

“Basically ready to go,” Matt replied, surveying the room. “As soon as they break in, these guys will vanish.” He had an air of pride about his evacuation plans, nodding to himself as he ran through them again in his mind.

“Good. Now get out.”

Matt’s face froze, turning to her in confusion. “What?”

“I repeat – get out.” Rvlakia’s face was expressionless as she gave the command, directed only at him.

“But I can still-”

“You can’t stay here any longer,” the Boss insisted. “I want you out of this scraper before the first punch has been thrown. I can’t risk you being seen here at all. You never know when I’ll need a mole in the police again.” At last she gave him a weak smile, one that he didn’t believe was genuine for a second but he still respected it, nodding and rushing off to make his own exit. With him safe, Rvlakia turned her attention back to the invasion group displayed on screen. “Who’ve we got?” she asked Ezra as he examined the profile list someone had compiled on one of the monitors.

“Rage, Hollow, Fluke, Evanz. Peace, Sky, Eryn, Figit. Two unidentified as of yet.”

“Hmm…” Rvlakia pondered the lineup for a brief moment. “Obviously, a no-kill order for the first four. Use whatever force necessary for the rest.” She frowned, staring at the screen and cursing the two unidentified persons for having their backs to the camera, willing them to turn around or at least move their heads sideways. Something about them both seemed familiar but she couldn’t place what, so she joined Ezra at the list. “Do we have any images of those other two here?”

Ezra clicked around for a bit until he had compiled a few screenshots that had been taken of the feed, all providing only partial glimpses of the duo's faces – an eye here, a mouth there. The difficulty with ascertaining who they were, it seemed, stemmed from the fact that whenever they actually faced the camera someone else would move in front of them and block the view. Rvlakia squinted at the collection of images, then at the feed, then back again, over and over as she eliminated potential people from her own list of meetings. For surely she had met them, though it was in a set of people labelled 'highly unlikely' that she finally made the connection.

"Wala and Potato?" She stared at them in confusion, Ezra waiting for her to explain or amend her plans or whatever it was she needed to do. Rvlakia's eyes widened suddenly and her head jerked up roughly as she looked at the screen again, consociating an infinity of possibilities in her head into one coherent image of the situation. "Hatter  _is_  here. With Mez, I'd wager. This is a distraction!"

 

* * *

 

"Do you think they're in yet?" Eryn asked, glancing over at Sky.

"Probably. Hatter seemed confident that that Lewis guy would know what kind of door it was." Sky glanced at the corridor behind her as if she expected that one of them would be running back in failure. On the way to District 3 Hatter had made a detour on her own to a meeting she had arranged earlier that week, returning with another mercenary in tow and a plan that she finally revealed to everyone else. Mez knew where other entrances were, Lewis held so much information in his brain – it was only a matter of time before the two of them would figure a different way into Open's base, and by having everyone else act as a decoy at the door Sky had kept watch on at least a small element of surprise could be generated. With no better plans to offer, it had been set in motion.

There was a whirring sound and a heavy click as the mechanism of the door finally unravelled beneath the onslaught of both Hollow and Peace hacking through the security protocols. They stashed away the tiny wireless touchpads they had brought and got to their feet as the entrance widened, allowing the group to get their first glimpse of Open's base.

"Stairs?" Potato said incredulously, not quite believing the spiral flight that had been revealed, heading directly up with no indication of distance, ensconced in its own little channel that ran past the height of the Level. It was odd infrastructure to see in such a middle-class area, and definitely not what anyone had been expecting of Open. Then again, that was the problem – they had barely any clue about what the bounty hunters would throw at them, being as unpredictable as they were. Rvlakia had spawned a problematic enemy.

"Well," Rage said, grinning as he took the lead and went ahead, placing a single foot on the first step, "shall we go?"


	66. Footsteps

"Never again," Rage wheezed, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath, last one to reach the top of the stairs. With the exception of Figit, everyone was worn from the arduous climb that was far longer than they had anticipated. "How many was that?" He glanced around blearily at his companions.

"736 steps, give or take," Sky huffed. She leant against the wall as feeling slowly returned to her legs.

"I meant Levels," Rage amended.

"If Sky's count is accurate that takes us to…" Peace thought about it for a moment, "Level 99?"

"Yep," she agreed.

Fluke scowled, though the effect of the expression was lessened slightly by his heavy breathing. "That can't be right. There shouldn't be any bounty hunters this far up. What is this place really?"

"Nothing," Evanz replied, less winded than the others but still not as composed as Figit, who wasn't even pretending to breathe at that point. "This was a DraCom factory. It was repossessed back when they were shut down so technically, it belongs to Leni."

"I think she forgot about it," Peace laughed, though the sound stuttered a bit.

When they had finally regained enough oxygen to function normally, they turned their attention to the door that separated the stairwell from the base proper, old fashioned handles indicating that they wouldn't have such a hard time getting through this one. By popular consensus, Sky and Eryn set themselves up either side of the entrance and with an assured nod, pushed the doors away.

The group found themselves faced with an expansive room utterly devoid of furnishings and punctuated only by regular structural supports that were erratically hung with curtains of plastic, the whole place looking like it had been abandoned in the middle of renovation which, given the circumstances, it very likely had. Concerningly, a large mass of people was waiting, scattered amongst the pillars with all eyes affixed on the door through which the group was entering. There was a moment of calm, no movement from either side as they simply studied each other, particularly the difference in numbers. If Potato had to guess, he'd figure that they were outnumbered six to one, though since only a few of them could actually fight… well, it certainly wasn't going to be pleasant.

In a split second the tension broke and the bounty hunters rushed forward in an effort to swamp their enemies at the door; having expected such a situation, the group diverged into two, Sky and Eryn each taking the lead as the most experienced fighters they had. It was like an endless string of enemies bombarding them from all sides, only a few incapacitated for more than a few moments as the rest just got back up and rejoined the fray. Eryn had a higher rate of crippling hits than her partner, but Evanz was handling himself surprisingly well too, the bounty hunters that rushed him making only a minute amount of contact before seemingly being teleported into the air on the other side of him, thrown with their own momentum. Each one received minimal damage but it was enough to allow them progress, compensating for Rage's inability to do anything but goad people as he went by.

Across the room, Sky was discovering a similar surprise within her own group – Figit was merely walking through the hunters, leaving a trail of bodies behind, awake but unable to move. It was somewhat terrifying and she thanked everything that he was on their side. Fluke seemed to have taken basic self-defence courses at some point (with emphasis on the basic, given his low success rate) and Hollow's long limbs afforded him a buffer region that prevented anyone landing a hit on him, and Walama seemed to just slip past people without getting caught. Somehow, between all of them, they had reduced the bounty hunters down to a third of their original quantity whilst sustaining only minor injuries.

Then things changed.

Someone was standing in Sky's path, a good hundred metres away but still and focussed in a manner that no one else was. The stranger was wearing cargo trousers and a grey tank top, nothing that could be used to identify a person, and her hair was tied up in a high pony tail to keep it out of the way. Sky prepared herself as the girl made to move but underestimated the speed with which she rushed toward them. The other bounty hunters jumped out of the way as she made a beeline for Sky, who blocked the kick to her stomach just in time.

The force of the attack sent her scraping backward, arms aching like she'd just been hit by a baseball bat and not a leg. "Keep going!" the mod shouted at her group before they could even try to stop to help her; she recognised a dangerous enemy when she saw one and knew that she needed to solve this as quickly as possible. Sky jumped out of the way as the Open member tried to land a hit again, reaching for the weapon she stored at her waist. Infrequently used due to a moral code all the mods seemed to have, the small knife Sky carried was used only for targets that she judged as too risky to go easy on; the stranger's eyes alighted on the blade and she seemed to reconsider her tactics for a second before rushing again. A cut to the arm, the shoulder, the waist – little slices through flesh that served to distract and enrage her opponent, buying enough time for Sky to be certain her group had vanished from the room. Her enemy's fighting was based mainly around kick sequences that were easy to predict, though faster than any the mod had encountered before, so Sky was just barely avoiding the inevitable as she threw herself into the fight, opting to dodge every attack rather than counter them directly.

"I'm going to help her," Eryn stated hurriedly as she shooed her group through a different door than the others had used as an escape, defending them from the bounty hunters as they ducked past her. Once they were through she slammed the door shut, smashing the lock in so that no one could open it again without some form of power tool. "Get out of my way," she grunted at the rest of the mob, not holding back now that she had no one to protect; bodies went flying, tossed aside like ragdolls as Eryn stormed through them in an effort to reach her partner before anything bad happened, aware of the strain Sky was under even from across the room.

Sky could see Eryn coming to help her out, smirking at her opponent who hadn't realised yet and striking with the blade at the back of her calf to cripple her. There was an unexpected screeching sound, metal on metal, and the knife seemingly slid off of the stranger's skin. Crouched as she was, Sky's hesitation gave a perfect chance for the bounty hunter to bring her foot up, catching the mod's chin and casting her onto her back. Sky's brain rattled at the impact and before she knew it her opponent had advanced upon her; in a last ditch attempt to defend herself, Sky raised her arm to block the incoming stamp, the sickening sound of bone snapping resounding through her entire being with a flood of pain following shortly after.

"No!" Eryn cried, face frozen in utter horror as she watched Sky pass out even whilst an enemy still loomed over her. The hunter in question heard Eryn's call, twisting her body into a spin and casting a drop-kick down at exactly the right point to cave in the mod's skull.

Had Eryn been anyone else she would have died and she knew it. Instead, she relished the shocked look that the Open member wore as her foot connected with an overhead block – and just stopped. The pair stared at each other for a nanosecond before Eryn shucked off the leg and they both jumped back, wary of one another. The mod cast a mournful glance at her partner, unable to help her in the middle of a battle.

"I should have known," she said in fake calmness, the hunter's eyes narrowing at the conversation. "There's no way anyone normal would have had Sky on the ropes so easily. Who are you?"

The girl considered answering for a moment. "Not telling," she said plainly. "Might I assume then, that you would class yourself as not 'normal' too? Given that you successfully blocked me." She didn't pace in anxiety, just stood still with a peace Eryn wished she had right then.

In answer, Eryn pushed up her sleeves, presenting her forearms to her enemy and making it clear that the skin on her hands was fake, two intricate gloves hiding her secret. From the elbow down, both limbs were comprised of gleaming metal sheets moulded to the shape of a human arm and filled with intricate wiring and technology the likes of which one could not obtain legally. On the inside of her elbows a logo was stamped, identifying the producer as plainly as day. "And yourself?" Eryn prompted.

"My legs," she replied, tugging at the slashed material of her trousers and examining the ostentatious scratch Sky had left behind. Even from this distance the serial code that ran almost parallel to the mark was readable and Eryn's eyes alighted on a very particular section of it that rang bells in her head, bounded by numbers on both sides.

"You're Cpnrlx," the mod stated, somewhat confounded by the turn of events. No reports had ever suggested that the criminal had been related to Open at all (or was female, for that matter) and yet here she was in the heart of the organisation's base.

"Clever," she said, raising an eyebrow at the observation. "But forgive me; I just can't comprehend why a government official would employ one of us." She scowled lightly and shook her head.

"You mean Rage?" Eryn smirked. "Who said he  _employed_  me? I'll thank you to not pry into our business anymore."

Cpnrlx's eyes narrowed. "I shall have to demand the same of you. I'd love to know your story but the Boss needs me to stop you from reaching her." The two Dragons stared each other down. "I cannot let you leave here alive."


	67. Prophet

"Are they going to be okay?" Potato asked, glancing back at the closed door they were swiftly leaving behind. A stark contrast to the expanse before, they now found themselves in a barely lit corridor decked in grey wallpaper and carpet tiles, a combination that created the strange optical illusion of corners not actually existing.

"Eryn can handle herself," Rage replied, not entirely sure how to interact with the Confession. Thankfully, Peace and Evanz were there too. "There's a reason we let her fight."

"Oh?"

Cursing the slip of his tongue, Rage amended, "Because she's good at it." Vague explanation over, he let out a sigh of relief that he had averted a crisis, even though it was only a trivial one.

"Does anyone know where we're going?" Evanz asked, glancing nervously at the grey surrounding them.

"Wherever we end up, I guess," Peace answered casually. Though they had been separated from the other half of their attacking force, there was no need to try to find them. This way they could cover more ground and find Rvlakia quicker and stop her from… whatever it was she was going to do. That was the strange thing about this whole situation, he found, that they didn't have the slightest clue what she was up to. She'd infiltrated their ranks but he didn't recall her actually taking anything from them, nor had she hijacked any of their systems to access classified information or repurpose it to suit nefarious means. It was peculiar that in all the time he and Hatter and everyone else had spent with her, she hadn't given them a single clue about what she might be aiming for. Or perhaps she had, and none of them had noticed.

Potato's brow furrowed a little and he lifted his chin in curiosity. "Can anyone smell that?"

"Smell what?" Evanz looked over his shoulder at their impromptu comrade.

"I thought… never mind, it was nothing." Potato turned his attention back to the corridor, still unable to see the end of it. "This is making me  _want_  to be attacked," he muttered under his breath.

"Me too," Peace agreed. The endless grey passageway laughed at them, its network of intersections casting them further into disarray at every turn until all sense of direction was lost.

 

* * *

 

Fluke found himself with the two least talkative people he had ever known and one who wouldn't  _stop_  talking, the incessant nattering of Figit's voice making his ears ring as he discussed one trifling matter after the other all by himself. Either the CI didn't understand human body language or he was actively ignoring it; whichever way, he simply wasn't getting the message to shut up.

"Do you think we'll find Rvlakia first or will Hatter? Maybe the others? Have we considered the possibility that we might not find her at all? What do you think will happen then? Do you think any of you will di-"

"That's enough," Hollow said roughly, Fluke sighing in relief at the instant quiet. The weapons merchant didn't seem annoyed with Figit as such, just preoccupied, and it was in the next few seconds that Fluke realised why.

The corridor they were in was ending, illuminated by something around the corner – the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. The four of them rounded it in silence, finding themselves within a decently sized room that was a stark contrast to the mid-renovation one they'd been in before. Here the carpet tiles switched from monotonous grey to rich blue, long desks dividing the floor up neatly as lighting in the suspended ceiling mirrored the pattern overhead. It was a classic office layout, not something anybody would expect to see in the headquarters of a criminal organisation; there was no one in sight and yet the numerous computers on the tables were all on, displaying a static lock screen with the Open logo on it.

Interestingly enough, the actual lights were off, the monitors creating enough of a combined glow for the room to be mostly visible while the dark of shadows was multiplied threefold. Footsteps muffled by the floor, Fluke made his way to what looked like the control panel for the room and tried to turn up the brightness in an attempt to reveal anyone hiding for an ambush. But the controls didn't respond, not even providing an error report as to why. He glanced around the room again, the sense of eeriness increasing as he did so.

Walama, in the midst of a similar surveillance, suddenly jerked her head in Fluke's direction, her eyes wide as she leapt at him.

"What the-!" Fluke swore as the Confession knocked him to the ground, though a vague shape darting across his vision quickly made him forgive her for the action. They both scrambled to their feet but whatever tried to attack him had vanished as inexplicably as it had appeared in the first place. His eyes met Hollow's. "Did you see?" The taller man shook his head.

"It's there," Walama stated, pointing to one of the computers. Nothing about it seemed different from any of the others and yet her attention was affixed on it with a focus one rarely saw on someone who wasn't a mod.

"Well isn't this a surprise?" said an unfamiliar voice – something seemed to pour out of the computer Wala was pointing at, condensing into the form of a human boy. He frowned at the Confession, tapping his fingers on the top of the monitor as he studied her. "You are… a Dragon?"

She didn't answer the question at all, not even nodding. "And you are two people," she said cryptically, but it seemed as though the stranger somehow understood what she meant. Upon hearing the words Figit tilted his head impossibly left as his eyes bore holes into the boy.

"Hallie?" he said incredulously. It was the first time Fluke had seen him confused and ordinarily he would have been elated at the CI's failing, but the situation prevented any form of mirth.

The stranger grit his teeth at the name. "It's  _Ezra_."

"You changed your name?"

"It changed more than that," Walama said, strange choice of pronoun not going unnoticed. "There are patches everywhere – white where yellow once was and more white where yellow has never been. So does that make you yellow? Or white?"

Fluke glanced around to see if anyone else was confused and was relieved to see it wasn't just him (Hollow's face was nigh unreadable but he chose to assume that that was because he had no idea what she meant either). Again, Ezra seemed to understand and his eyes narrowed.

"I see. This is a side effect of your Dragon tech, isn't it? It's not in your file." The fingers that still rested on the monitor twitched and with a start Fluke realised they were partially transparent. "But then again," Ezra continued, his eyes switching to meet Figit's for a moment, " _we_  didn't exist when you were on trial, did we?" His attention returned to Walama, who didn't appear fazed at all. With an annoyed click of his tongue, Ezra pushed his hand further into the computer screen and vanished.

Fluke hurried over to Hollow's side to regroup. "This isn't good…" the weapons merchant muttered, and it was obvious what he meant. Ezra had likened himself to Figit more than once, which meant several things: first, that he was the V-8112 virus they'd been wary of, despite the difference in appearance; second, he could travel the Tower network like Figit could, given that they shared the same base code; third, merely touching him would cause one to lose feeling in the vicinity of the contact. Fluke recalled watching Figit overload the nervous systems of Open members earlier, shuddering at the possibility that he might know what that felt like (or didn't) in the near future.

"Duck!" Walama shouted at them and they instinctively obeyed, the two men barely clearing the sweeping reach of Ezra's arm as it passed right through where their chests would have been. In a heartbeat the CI had vanished again.

"Figit, can you stop him?" Hollow queried the program, who was just standing still. "You have the antivirus, don't you?"

"I do," was the simple reply. "But I will not hurt my sis– my brother."

"That's helpful," Fluke grumbled sarcastically.

"Hollow, left!" Wala called out again, the tall man sidestepping as Ezra dived out of a wall-mounted clock. The CI scowled at her as he reached toward the closest computer and melted away yet again.

Everything was silent. Hollow and Fluke waited on their toes for Walama's next instruction, aware that she somehow knew where Ezra was going to be before he even appeared. Figit paid none of them any heed, and the Confession herself was glancing around for any sign of their enemy. Seconds ticked past. Then minutes. Nothing. It was as if he had just given up on them after two attacks, perhaps recuperating for another ambush further into the base. He had clearly been counting on the severe advantage that the room's contents provided and hadn't expected to be matched on equal terms. It was weird but if he really was gone, they needed to get moving in order to reach Rvlakia in time.

Fluke glanced over at Hollow to suggest so, but in that moment he heard a harsh gasp of surprise. Walama's eyes and mouth were wide open as she let out a silent scream, Ezra standing behind her with a hand fixed firmly to her neck – rather, his hand was  _in_  her neck, ethereal fingers wrapped tightly around the synthetic section of her spine as he wilfully activated the virus in him to erase every item of data that she needed to live. Fluke watched in horror as Walama's knees buckled and she crumpled to the ground, shaking uncontrollably as her eyes rolled back in her head.


	68. Caritas

Ezra stepped away from Walama's body with a victorious smirk, making eye contact with Fluke as he disappeared back into a computer. Throwing his caution away and allowing Hollow to act as lookout, the blond rushed over to her to assess just how much damage had been done. She wasn't dead yet but her Hoffmann's reflex was positive and her pulse was alarmingly erratic – Fluke didn't have medical training beyond first aid but even he knew that things were bad. Really bad.

"Get out of the way," someone said authoritatively and Fluke was surprised to see Figit standing beside him with a markedly serious expression.

"What?"

"I don't want to cause you any more problems so get out of the way before I have to push you." There was no real threat in his voice and yet Fluke didn't want to risk being crippled by the CI so he moved. Besides, Figit was probably able to do more than he could right then. "Don't let Ezra close," the program warned before he reached out to the same part of Walama's neck that his brother had been holding and vanished, dragged inside by some unseen force.

Fluke stood again, placing his trust in the inhuman abilities that might just save a life. For all his reluctance to work with the Confessions, no part of him wanted them  _dead_ , particularly not when they were actually trying to help for once. He shared a glance with Hollow and then took up his position on the opposite side of the prone body, prepared for another attack.

 

* * *

 

"Okay, this is officially classed as 'weird'," Potato stated as they turned the corner and were faced with yet another grey hallway no different from the last. No matter which path they chose to take it was always the same, never allowing them to find any location of consequence. It was as if Open had built a maze in the middle of their base specifically to obstruct invading forces; at one point, Rage had suggested that they follow the left wall (the guaranteed way of escaping a maze, apparently) but since they hadn't found an exit that way it was fairly safe to assume they'd merely looped around several times. Even attempting to go back the way they came hadn't worked, and they all cursed themselves for not paying better attention to which way they had gone.

Evanz groaned. "How long have we been here?" he queried, exhausted at just having to ask such a thing. He lightly hit the wall closest to him in exasperation, frowning and staring at the impact site.

"An hour? Maybe several?" Peace replied. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it's been days." He ran a hand over his head, tugging at his hair in an effort to think more clearly.

"What about if we split up?" Rage suggested. "That way we can cover more options, and if one of us makes progress they can get the others."

"What makes you think we can find each other again?" Peace snapped. "Have you considered what happens if  _none_  of us finds a way out?"

"Woah, calm down, people," Potato intervened, holding his hands out, palms downward, to emphasise the instruction. "I know we're all fed up but now really isn't the time to get upset. We have to focus on the real problem at hand here – how to escape this maze."

"Rage, can I punch you?"

Potato, Peace and the commissioner himself all blinked in surprise simultaneously, turning their heads at the bewildering request to look at Evanz, who seemed to be thinking carefully about something.

"Can you…?" Rage stammered, "…no! No, you may  _not_  punch me!" Evanz stared at him for a moment, shrugged and swung anyway.

The sound of his fist connecting resounded through the corridor, causing the two onlookers to flinch as Rage reeled backwards, hands clasped to his cheek with an expression of horror and pain. Evanz calmly shook his fist loose and turned it over as he examined it, ignoring the surprise his companions had been frozen with.

Eventually, Rage moved. "What the actual fuck, man?" he practically shrieked, keeping his distance from his friend so as not to risk being injured again.

"I had to test something," Evanz explained vaguely, finally remembering there were other people there. "Did that feel strange to you? At all?"

The commissioner stared at him disbelievingly. " _Yes._ Of course it did! You  _punched_  me!"

"I mean did the punch itself feel weird to you?" Evanz huffed, rolling his eyes as though he had asked the most obvious question in the world. Rage gaped at him, speechless.

"Um, maybe you should tell us why you did that?" Potato suggested hesitantly.

"I was testing something."

"Yes, you  _did_  say that."

"I had to test if it hurt properly."

"'Properly'?"

Peace's eyes widened as he caught on to what the CEO was considering. "Did it?" Evanz met his gaze and shook his head slowly. In response, Peace let out a heavy breath like he'd just been given the worst news in his life. "Well that's not good."

"What, something worse than getting  _punched in the face_?" Rage was obviously put out by the lack of interest anyone had in comforting him.

"Oh come on, it didn't hurt that much. I've had way worse before," Evanz dismissed, waving the complaint away.

"It felt plenty painful to me!"

"Exactly," Evanz turned to him and Rage automatically flinched, though there was no follow-up attack. "It 'felt' painful to you, because you knew it was coming. But tell me, if I really hit you that hard then why is there absolutely no sign of it on your face, hmm? I didn't hit you, Rage. Not really."

Potato glanced between them, bemused. "Is there some kind of code I'm missing here? Because this is more cryptic than Wala's prophesies."

"What he's saying," Peace explained, taking on the role of relieving both Rage's and the Confession's mystification, "is that we're not actually awake right now. We're dreaming." He glanced over his shoulder. "That right?"

Evanz nodded. "We've been walking around for so long it's a wonder none of us noticed sooner. Thank everything for lucid dreaming techniques, or else we might never have realised. As it stands, there's no telling how long we've actually been here."

"So then how much of what happened today was actually real?" Potato queried, concerned about his memories, not to mention what might have happened to Mez and Wala. He didn't recall falling asleep at all, so maybe he was knocked out?

"Remember when we left Eryn? You said you smelt something." Now that Peace mentioned it, it was easy to recall expressing words to that effect, though the scent itself escaped him. "It's a classic sign of Inducer activation."

"An Inducer?" Potato gawped. "Then we need to get out of it quick!"

"See, Rage?" the CEO said, nodding in agreement. "Your sacrifice was not in vain."

The commissioner scowled at the condescending tone, then something obvious occurred to him. "Wait, if you were testing for an Inducer then why didn't you just  _pinch_  me?!"

Evanz shrugged and grinned. "I never let a good opportunity pass."

 

* * *

 

"Fuck," Eryn hissed as she blocked another blow that was accompanied by the screech of metal they had become accustomed to. She made for a counterattack, lunging for Cpnrlx's face but the criminal jumped back out of range before the hit could connect. They were both breathing heavily, exhausted from their endless tug-of-war on gaining the advantage, and already Eryn could feel the ache just above her elbows caused by the sheer quantity of force that had been put on the fixture that kept her flesh tied to her tech. A trip to the doctors' was inescapable now.

On the other hand, Cpnrlx wasn't looking the picture of health either. Her skin was crusted with her own blood, spilt by Sky injuring her earlier. The reminder of Sky caused Eryn's insides to boil all over again and she pushed aside all thought of her own pain; without realising it, her feet had led her back over to where the other mod was still unconscious and she looked down at Sky's face for a second, pained by the fact that she couldn't help her yet. Not until Cpnrlx was gone.

A gleam in her periphery drew Eryn's attention and in a second she had plucked the knife from the ground, keeping it hidden from her enemy by twisting her fist awkwardly and laying the blade flat against her inner arm. Cpnrlx was watching her closely but it didn't seem like she saw what had been collected, giving the mod an opportunity that she really could not waste. Eryn leapt at the Open member with a loud shout, allowing her guard to develop holes that could be exploited. Surely Cpnrlx thought her mad, enraged at the recollection of what had been done to her partner, and the criminal wasn't against using that 'fact' against her.

The wind was completely knocked out of Eryn as she felt a knee collide with her lower ribcage, bones crunching as a decent hit had finally been made. In the brief second of victory Cpnrlx subconsciously celebrated, Eryn lifted her elbow and stabbed out with the knife, catching the girl in her waist. The blow was harsh but didn't quite pass through to her back so the mod yanked it laterally, rending apart the flesh keeping it trapped inside before crashing backward and fully registering her own injuries.

Cpnrlx was motionless, mouth dropped open in surprise. Then, hands clutching at her side, she staggered a few steps away before crashing to the ground, gasping and hissing in pain as red poured out of her and painted the floor she lay on. Eryn averted her attention to Sky, practically crawling to the other mod in her haste. She frantically checked her vitals, pausing halfway through to calm herself and make sure she was doing it properly; Sky was fine, it seemed, just unconscious. Glad that she really was in no immediate danger, Eryn felt gently along her partner's arm to determine the extent of the fracture there. It was a clean break, as far as she could tell, meaning Eryn could continue with her plan. She rummaged through her own pockets for a second, knowing that in one of them she had stashed away some new capsules that she'd been given before they had set off for District 3; soon she held three of them marked with Hollow's prototype label, twisting one open and swallowing the contents without a thought to the bitter taste. The second one she fed to Sky, ensuring that not a drop of it escaped the mod's throat.

Eryn turned her attention back to Cpnrlx, whose face was scrunched up in agony as she stayed awake through sheer willpower alone. The mod dragged herself over to the criminal and wordlessly put the final capsule to her mouth, grabbing her jaw to keep her from moving even as Cpnrlx made attempts to twist away, each time interrupted by a flare of pain from her wound. The viscous, green fluid flowed steadily into her mouth, Eryn watching coldly as the last of it vanished. Releasing the girl - who then lashed out to get the mod's hand away from herself - Eryn sat back.

"What did you just give me?" Cprnlx hissed, glaring at her and then gasping as her previous attack caught up with her.

"Rapid healing booster," Eryn said flatly. "You'll be fine if you just stay still."

"You're kidding me?" Her eyes widened at the look on the mod's face. "You're not? What the fuck are you doing? Doing  _this_  and then keeping me  _alive_?" She gestured weakly to the large tear in her side. "I didn't think you lot were above killing people."

"Oh, we're not. If it had been the other way around, Sky would have happily left you to die."

Cpnrlx bit her lip as a wave of pain threatened to make her vision go black. "But you won't?"

"I  _can't_." Eryn turned over her arms to examine the metal, noting a bend inward where she had received the brunt of the violent kicking earlier, not to mention the smears of blood transferred there by the enemy who now lay at her mercy on the floor.

"What? Got too much of a heart in you?" the Open member attempted to joke, subsequently groaning as even light laughter proved too much.

"No, certainly not enough of that," Eryn replied, a menacing look in her eyes. "I've got too much of a brain, if anything. If I killed you I'd lose my privileges and get sent straight back to those foetid cells to spend the majority of my days bashing my head against the wall because my arms have been bound. So it's fortunate for your sake that I want to be with Sky more than I want you dead."

Cpnrlx held Eryn's gaze for a long while, seeing something dark lurking at the very back of the mod's eyes. There was no doubt that if Eryn didn't have to suffer the consequences then she would be sporting more than just the one full-fledged knife wound. "Damn it," she groaned, letting her head fall back onto the floor and staring straight up at the dusty ceiling. She couldn't move without physically tearing herself apart - there was no escape this time around. It would be prudent to just admit defeat and allow her mind to rest while her body healed, she thought, and the moment the idea crossed her mind her vision began to darken in response, unconsciousness numbing the pain for the duration of the hollow respite. "Damn it all."


	69. Reticulation

"Got it!" Lewis wore a smug smile as he finally succeeded in opening an entrance, Hatter and Mez watching in mild fascination. This particular door hadn't actually looked like one, but the Confessions' information stated that a large quantity of Open suspects had simply walked into the gap between buildings and vanished. Even Hatter hadn't been able to see how they did it, but Lewis recognised the mechanism almost immediately.

As it turned out, leaning on the wall in a specific spot triggered a pressure sensor and revealed a keypad, upon which Lewis had employed several skeleton codes to override the system. "You find these quite a lot in central Europe," he had said when Mez had asked how on Earth he had known what to do, not elaborating any further. Now a black hole had appeared in the wall, about 2 metres high and half a metre wide, and Lewis held it open as he waved the girls through. The door shut rapidly but silently the moment he removed his hand and once it had sealed it became apparent that tiny glow-lights had been installed in columns around the strange chamber they found themselves in, running up far past where the Level should have ended. Between each line of illumination structural supports crossed over one another in a repetitive interlocking pattern, clean and seemingly endless.

"There's no way out," Mez commented, not seeing an exit. She glanced over at Lewis to see if he knew something she didn't but he looked just as clueless.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Hatter replied, still fixated on the supports. They seemed somewhat superfluous to her but upon testing one she found that they were firm in their setting. Cautiously, the mod lifted her foot and set it onto the beams, pausing momentarily before pulling herself up and placing her entire weight on the network. It didn't break, she didn't fall – it seemed her hunch was correct. "We climb."

"This is like a kids' play frame," Mez noted as she eyed up the walls with some scepticism. "Admittedly a bit of a dangerous one, but still… Kia makes her people do  _this_  to get in?"

"Probably not all of them." She pulled herself further up from the ground. "Sky mentioned a divisional system in Open; I reckon one of those might be for more hands-on members, field agents or something like that." She glanced back at her companions. The chamber wasn't exactly bright but the glow-lights provided just enough luminescence for them to see one another's faces, and Lewis was wearing a less than subtle mask of concern. "Lewis, are you okay?"

"Well, I'm just not sure I can climb this…" He hesitantly placed a hand on the supports. "I'm not exactly as athletic as some of you." His eyes darted upward and Hatter couldn't help but follow his gaze, startled as she saw that at some point Mez had managed to clamber higher than she had. The Confession smirked at her and Hatter rolled her eyes.

"You remember our exam?" she asked Lewis. He nodded. "This is just like that, isn't it? So trust me."

"As I recall, you dropped me down a cliff."

"It was only a  _tiny_  fall."

"It really wasn't."

"It worked out though, didn't it? Stop messing around and get moving!" She grinned and Lewis returned the expression, finally hauling himself onto the supports. Hatter waited until he approached her height before moving again, keeping within reaching distance of him and helping him up when he faltered.

"Slowpokes!" Mez chuckled from way above them, naturally taking up the scout position as she clambered about like she'd been born on climbing equipment. She made sure to stay within eyesight, however, some part of her still wanting to make sure they made it up okay.

None of them were measuring the time it took to traverse the chamber but eventually Hatter reached the top, a square of light shining down from where Mez had opened an exit. Concerningly, it was a noticeable distance from the four walls meaning a leap was required to reach it. Mez's face popped into the gap to see how they were faring, upside down and rather comical, before she retracted it and offered her hands instead. Lewis was understandably nervous but Hatter managed to persuade him to let go of the supports and grab onto the Confession, who heaved him up with hidden strength. Lewis scrambled out of the gap once his upper body hit the floor, his feet thrashing wildly but thankfully out of range of Hatter's head. The mod herself calculated the distance between her and the exit, discovering that she was actually tall enough to just let go and reach for the edge closest to her, which she then did. Her grip tight she let her feet fall from the supports and for a moment she was just hanging above a 4-Level high drop, then she swiftly pulled herself up and out.

Mez and Lewis were both sitting on the floor waiting for her, sharing a high-five when they'd all successfully made it into Open's base. Speaking of which, Hatter hadn't known what she was expecting but an ordinary corridor wasn't on the list her subconscious had compiled. "Any clue where we are?" she asked. The floor was carpeted in a rich emerald colour, the walls a graduation from grey up through to light green and marred only by the occasional closed door. In a way, it reminded her of the guest rooms at Fluke's home.

"It's a dormitory," Mez said, getting to her feet with Lewis copying her example. "I checked out a couple of rooms while I was waiting for you and they've all been lived in."

"So they actually sleep in the base?" Hatter wondered rhetorically, moving toward one of the doors to inspect it. It was simple enough, not even sporting security beyond a key lock. Beside the frame a small plaque was affixed to the wall, a three-digit number stamped onto it.

"I reckon it's a chronological numbering system," Lewis provided as he saw where her attention had turned. "See, it increases that way," he pointed left, "and decreases that way," and then right. "Not so hard to work out."

"Makes you wonder what's at 'one'," Mez grinned, willing the mod to go along with it.

Hatter had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea. As of current, they had no real plan for where to go given that they didn't know the layout of the base, and it was likely that the first room in the sequence belonged to Ki- to Rvlakia. There might be clues there as to what she was up to and where she'd gone, or perhaps she hadn't gone anywhere at all and that's where they'd find her. Any which way, it was the best plan they had right then. "Shall we get going then?"

Mez grinned and nodded, taking the lead with confident strides down the hallway. Occasionally they came across a junction but it didn't take a lot of thinking about to find which way to go, since it mirrored a normal street layout in residential Levels. Their path wound them deeper and deeper into the base, every section of corridor looking exactly the same aside from the numbers steadily decreasing. When they hit 020 the doors became further apart from one another, then at 005 further still; and that wasn't the only change. At the final five the security had suddenly jumped and each door had no indication of how to open it, though the intercom below each plaque indicated that they weren't permanently sealed. Eventually they reached number 'one' and stared at it for a second.

"How do we get past it?" Mez queried.

"I don't know," Lewis replied. "But… I don't think this is where we need to be."

"Why ever not?"

"The numbering system," he said, glancing to the side and further down the corridor beyond the rooms. "It's consistently three digits. 003, 002, 001…"

"000," Hatter finished. "That  _does_  seem like something she'd do." On impulse Hatter headed down the corridor, not limiting her speed to accommodate her companions anymore, turning right when the hallway did so and immediately catching sight of a door so much different from the rest - it was open. Completely and utterly open, like someone had propped it ajar because they were just stepping out and fully intended to come back in a few minutes.

"Jackpot," Mez grinned as she caught up. Though she wanted to jump straight in she resisted the urge, allowing Hatter to lead them toward the room that belonged to Rvlakia.

A brief cacophony of clinking sounded as Hatter stepped into the dark and her foot collided with something on the ground; she froze, wary of setting off any traps but after a few moments with nothing happening she continued on until she reached a lamp, which she promptly activated. It seemed Rvlakia had been keeping a wooden bowl full of coins next to the doorway and the mod had managed to knock it over, sending the small pieces across the synth wood floor. For some reason she could never explain, Hatter knelt down and righted the bowl before scooping up its scattered contents and returning them. Coins. Rvlakia owned coins. She must have sourced them through the black market, though why she was keeping such valuable items on the floor was unfathomable.

"Wow," Mez exclaimed as she and Lewis stepped past and found the switch to turn on the proper lights, enabling them to see the full extent of the room. It was large, to be sure, a bed to the left and some kind of work station in the middle, but the main focus point by far was the vast assembly of miscellaneous objects standing on podiums or hanging from the ceiling or attached to a wall. The layout was reminiscent of a museum, only without the signs bearing explanations as to what everything was. Hatter set the coins aside and stood up, drifting forward in a slightly awed daze toward the eclectic collection; she lifted up the first thing she encountered, a rock that looked as though it had been cut in half to reveal a strange spiral pattern in the formation. She gingerly ran a finger over the smooth and polished shape, a stark contrast to the raw cut of the rest of the rock, before putting it back down again. "What the fuck is this?" Mez wondered, holding up a rusted five-point star symbol bounded by a circle, turning it over in a search for secrets.

"I've no clue," Hatter replied, glancing around and wondering if anything in the room was dangerous.

"Do be careful," Lewis warned, staring at a blue and white ornamental vase. "Some of this stuff is… pricey."

Mez's curiosity piqued, she looked over at him with narrowed eyes. " _How_  pricey?"

"You're surrounded by about several billion."

Eyes wide, Mez carefully set the metal item down again. "Okay, no touching. Maybe we should focus on what we came here for?"

"She's right," Hatter agreed. "Lewis, I know it's all fascinating but we really need to search this place for information, and as I recall that  _is_  your specialty." She wouldn't admit it but part of her just wanted to marvel at everything too, though there would be time for that later. If they managed to take Open down then all of it would be confiscated, catalogued and redistributed as required, giving her plenty of chances to check things out.

"Yes, yes," Lewis replied. "Check her desk, closet and bedside table first – they're the most likely places she's hiding things."

"Do you really think she'd be that predictable?" Mez wondered as she pulled open the wardrobe door and peered inside. "I mean, Kia clearly knows her shit if she managed to trick us all."

"You never can tell," Lewis said with an air of experience, which he likely had gained by doing similar work many times before. He was rummaging through the mess on the work station, organising the tools and rubbish as he went so that he didn't miss a single thing. Seeing that he didn't need help over there, Hatter made her way to the bed and the low cabinet beside it; on the top surface was a lamp and some kind of ornament, whilst the main body of the unit consisted of two separate drawers.

It was these drawers that Hatter knew she ought to look into immediately but she couldn't help but be distracted by the ornament, which was as strange as anything else in the room and yet somehow seemed to hold a different kind of significance to Rvlakia if she kept it so close to where she slept. It was a glass cylinder, perhaps the diameter of a mug and height of a forearm, half-filled with some kind of dark gas. Hatter reached for it, fascinated by a small red blob in the centre that didn't appear to be supported by anything, and as she jostled the container the gas became agitated and began to swirl in a startlingly familiar fashion – Mist. It was Mist inside the cylinder, and an unidentifiable crimson stone was somehow floating on it.

"Did you find something?" Mez called, seeing that Hatter had paused.

"No, nothing yet," she replied hurriedly, putting the ornament down and turning her attention back to the drawers. They weren't locked but she opened them cautiously, wary of any traps that might have been employed. There was a miscellany of items in the first, a few rings and necklaces and stones along with photo frames that looked like they had been recently emptied. The second drawer contained paper, notes and hurriedly scrawled 'I owe you's, along with sheet music for some woodwind instrument. Right at the bottom of the drawer was a sheaf of small sheets paper-clipped together and Hatter dug it out carefully so as not to lose any of them, placing the stack beside her on the bed. She knew what they were immediately, having received two or three herself; Intelligence Rating results, printed mere seconds after the test itself. Rvlakia had once claimed to have an IR of 5 and with a small amount of surprise Hatter saw that the top sheet indeed pronounced it as so. Somehow, after all that Rvlakia had done, the mod thought she would have had a much greater rating than that. Somewhat conflicted, she flicked through the papers to see if she could learn anything more: 4.5; 3; 7; 2.5; 9; 1…

Hatter frowned.

Something was off about them. She thumbed through the sheets again to see if they were in disarray but the dates stamped on them clearly showed that they were all in chronological order. The ratings shouldn't have been that erratic - not for one person - and she had never heard of anyone's IR decreasing from one test to another unless they were elderly or had suffered brain damage. Had Rvlakia somehow fooled the test? But then, why would she do that for something nobody else was ever going to see?

"You're not supposed to be in here."

She jumped at the sudden declaration and whirled around to face the speaker, standing in the centre of the room between Hatter and her companions (Mez had already taken up a defensive stance). The girl was wearing a black dress that the mod's keen eye noted was designed for combat, the outfit accented with white and a carved jade necklace. With a start Hatter recognised the girl as Cel, the one who had helped Rvlakia escape from Hollow's workshop, and she copied Mez's example and prepared to fight. "The door was open. Can you blame us?"

"Hmm," Cel pondered, gazing at the entrance. Lewis took the chance to point upward and direct their attention to the dropped-ceiling, where a panel had been removed. Carefully, he mouthed the words  _secret network_ , indicating how she'd managed to get in without any of them noticing. "Well, the Boss has their reasons," Cel shrugged, turning her gaze back to the trio. "If you don't mind, I'd really prefer not to fight in here. I'll lose my head if I break anything – and I mean that literally."

"Sorry if we don't want to follow you to our deaths," Mez smirked, raising her fists. "So you might as well face us here."

Cel sighed. "If you say so." In a hairpin turn her attitude switched from passive to full aggression and she snatched up the same rock Hatter had earlier and threw it with precision at Lewis, cracking him in the head and knocking him to the floor, already out cold before he even realised they were fighting. Without checking to see if he was completely unconscious Cel leapt at Hatter with a heavy punch to her stomach that would have knocked the wind out of her if the mercenary hadn't managed to dodge in time. Momentum still carrying her forward, the girl avoided full-on collision with the bed by tucking her legs into a forward roll, twisting as she bounced so that her feet hit the wall first and pushing off to launch at her quarry again. Still in the midst of turning, Hatter felt a fist smash into her face, sending her reeling backward. She barely registered that her lip had been split before Cel had latched onto her back, arm locked forcefully around the moderator's throat and cutting off her air supply. Hatter had let her guard down and now she was going to pay the price for it.

Suddenly, oxygen flooded into her lungs again as the attacker was torn off of her. Hatter spun around to see Mez struggling to control Cel's movements, the agent's arms clamped down at her sides. "Get out of here!" the junior mercenary shouted. "I've got this!" Ordinarily Hatter would have argued but she had to admit that it was foolish to delay; they still hadn't found Rvlakia and time was running out. Besides, Mez could handle herself.

Seeing no point in going back the way they had come, Hatter's eyes alighted on the dark square in the roof where Cel had entered. Without even thinking about it she leapt, placing her foot on one of the podiums to give herself another boost up and grabbing the lip of the gap. Not looking back, she pulled herself through it and into the darkness of the dropped ceiling, scuttling along in search of another exit. From behind her she could hear the sound of things smashing as the fight continued but paid it no heed, straining with her senses until a minute change in temperature alerted her to the presence of an opening above her. Unable to see much, she cautiously felt through the air, fingertips landing on metal and showing her a shaft just large enough to slide through. Carefully, she stood, latching on to deliberate handholds in the vent and using them to pull herself up. Lewis had been right; there was no doubt that this tunnel was part of a network that allowed people like Cel to cross between rooms and Levels without being seen. After a minute of climbing Hatter's head hit the end of the vent and with nowhere to go she tentatively pushed out around her, sighing with relief as a rectangular section swung away and she was blinded as light poured in.

The mod swung her legs out and placed her feet down as silently as possible, the laminate floor making it very difficult for her to do so. Once she was out properly she debated whether to close the hatch but decided against it in case she needed to find it again and couldn't because of how camouflaged it was. She turned her attention to her surroundings, part of her dimly noting that she was now on Level 100; the place was completely empty and open-plan, not a wall in sight. From what she could tell it was an even larger space than the Common and she began to suspect that nothing had ever been built there, but then her sharp eyes managed to pick out a vague structure in what was – as far as she could tell – the centre of the room. Employing stealth techniques since she didn't know what to expect, Hatter made her way toward the shape which eventually clarified itself as some form of machinery reaching right the way to the ceiling and perhaps beyond, stitched into place by pipes and wires that bore no indication of their purpose. A humming sound increased in intensity, familiar as it reverberated through her bones. The machine was large in width, bigger than her own apartment perhaps, and outside of her knowledge. How long had it been hidden there? What was it for? She warily paced around it for clues, freezing as she turned a corner before ducking back slightly to hide herself. For a brief second she had seen an access panel, complex and sophisticated and right in the middle of being used. Slowly she peeked around the machine to make certain she'd seen correctly, stomach dropping as her suspicion was confirmed.

Standing there, pouring over the controls with the deepest look of concentration Hatter had ever seen on her, was Kia.


	70. Vincere

Fluke crashed heavily against a desk as he stumbled, balance ruined by the lack of feeling in both his legs. Hollow was still standing but he was clutching his left arm in indignation at having lost control of it. For all their vigilance it was difficult to spot Ezra before he was already part way through his attacks and it took all of their reflexes to get out of the way in time. Together they had managed to distract him from Wala's prone body whilst Figit did whatever he was doing but with every passing second it became more and more obvious that humans stood no chance against something so incorporeal.

"I'm beginning to get bored," Ezra's voice jeered from somewhere, his composed tone making them feel immensely uncomfortable as it served as a reminder that he couldn't get worn out in the same way they would, neither physically nor mentally.

"Fuck you," Fluke cursed, riled by the CI's overconfidence.

"I wonder," he continued, unfazed, "how long it would take you to die if I erased the data in your brains?"

"Why don't you come and find out?" Fluke taunted, levering himself back into an upright position before promptly tipping over again. He allowed himself to keep one hand on the desk to maintain balance, straightening his back to appear less impaired than he actually was.

Ezra laughed. "But that would be too easy, wouldn't it? I much prefer to watch you fall over."

The frown Hollow had been wearing for a full ten minutes finally relaxed slightly as he had an epiphany, brought on by Ezra's reluctance to actually go through with his threats. "You can't kill us," Hollow stated boldly, crossing his arms. There was a moment of hesitation before the CI replied.

"Sure I can."

"No. You're not allowed to, otherwise you'd have done it already."

"Do I have to remind you of your dead friend over there?" The scowl in Ezra's voice was obvious.

"You couldn't even manage that," Hollow scoffed. "Walama is still alive. What does that say about your abilities, hmm?"

"What are you  _doing_?" Fluke hissed at his companion, not seeing how drawing attention back to the defenceless Confession was going to help her chances of survival. The condescending tone being used certainly wasn't going to persuade the CI to let them alone either, but the glance Hollow sent his way made Fluke pause before contesting him further. Hollow had a plan, it seemed, and didn't have the time to explain it.

"You think I can't kill any of you?" Ezra growled. In the periphery of Fluke's vision one of the monitors flickered, so quickly that the tell could have gone entirely unnoticed. "Then let me change your minds." His form rapidly coalesced beside the computer and he dived toward Walama's body, an angry expression on his face as he made his second attempt to end her life. Fluke suddenly realised what it was Hollow had done; from the start it had been clear that the CI had a short temper, so by irking him Ezra was distracted enough to forget that Figit was currently saving the Confession. And if Figit wanted her to survive, he had no choice but to use the antivirus.

Just as Ezra's outstretched fingers were about to make contact with his prey, Walama's eyes flashed open and her arm whipped up and she grabbed him by his throat, the CI's face freezing in shock as he began to struggle in the same way a human would fight for oxygen. His hands scratched uselessly at her wrist, phasing through with no effect as she sat up and stared unblinking at him. Soundlessly, Wala manipulated them both so that they were standing opposite one another, tilting her head as she considered her captive before lifting him off of the ground. At once Ezra's form disintegrated as though he were being sucked into her fingers like liquid through a straw even as he tried to pull away, but all his attempts were in vain and within a few seconds he was completely gone.

"Well that was surreal," Fluke said eventually, breaking the strange silence. "Thank everything that that's destroyed now."

"No," Walama replied, but it wasn't her voice. She turned her head to them and continued speaking, her mouth unmoving though the words were clearly coming from her. "I merely dispersed him through Tower. He'll reform eventually but without any help it will take a long time."

"How long, Figit?" Hollow asked, since it was plainly the program speaking rather than Walama.

"A few years."

"Plenty of time to deal with it then."

"Does nobody else find this disturbing?" Fluke blurted out, staring at Walama as she moved like she was talking, gestures and all, but evidently was not the one explaining events. "Are you  _controlling_  her?"

Walama's hands were brought up and then turned around as she – or Figit, rather – examined them. "Something like that. I fixed what I could with her Dragon tech but not all of the damage was repairable. So for now, I'm using myself to make the missing connections." The left hand suddenly flagged and smacked into the desk closest to her. "I'm still getting used to it," Figit admitted, pausing for a second to take back control of the offending limb. "Ow?" he said, as if finally registering that she'd been injured and was unsure whether it actually hurt or not. Fluke could imagine him taking readings or something so that he could examine natural data at a later point.

"Is Walama awake then?" Hollow asked, not entirely sure if the girl was still present.

"Her mind is active," Figit replied, "but she's staying out of my way for now. Neither of us wants to be flopping about as I learn how to move. But this really is  _fascinating_. Do all humans see like this?"

Hollow frowned at the question, not sure what he meant by that. "Like what?"

Figit looked up at him then glanced at Fluke to see if he had more of an idea. "I guess not then. Walama can see so much! Enough for me to know my brother wouldn't die from the antivirus anymore."

"What?" Fluke said, concerned by what had just been said. Did that mean Figit would never be able to get rid of Ezra?

"His code has been augmented with Juke's." Walama blinked lazily.

Hollow considered the situation. Hatter had reported that Ezra looked as if he was falling apart, nothing like how stable he had seemed in the minutes just past. Which meant the improvements had been made sometime after Rvlakia had left the Common which in turn meant… "They have a copy of Juke. He still exists." The news was great; if they could just get their hands on that copy then Hollow would be able to restore Juke into their systems, minimising the damage that they had been facing because of his destruction.

Fluke crossed his arms. "So we have a side goal. Fun."

 

* * *

 

 

"So what do you suggest we do?" Potato asked, remarkably calm for just being told he was locked inside the neural network of an Inducer. Evanz was pacing the corridor, an endless track only a few metres either way, deep in thought and clearly not listening whilst Peace had taken a different tact and leant against the wall as motionless as possible.

"First of all, not panic," the programmer replied. "Rvlakia said that the way to wake up was by dying in the dream, and despite what she's done I don't think she's lying. Apparently, she jumped off the roof."

"Okay," Potato took the information on board, "but how do we do something like that if we can't leave this corridor?"

"Force a change," Evanz piped up. "If we can figure out a way to destroy the setting then the Inducer ought to load another dream and we might have more luck then."

Rage, who was sitting on the floor for some reason, frowned. "But can we be sure of that? This clearly isn't the same kind of Inducer in all the reports."

Evanz paused his pacing to stare at him. "How do you figure?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? Inducers are supposed to upload the users' brain patterns, hence the dreams, but if that were the case then wouldn't one of us have had to have dreamt this hallway before? None of us have claimed it though. I'd wager that someone's developed the technology and created this derivative with a preloaded scene. Chances are we won't even be affected by nightmares. This was made to just trap us rather than drive us insane."

Peace stared at him. "And you got all of that from an  _empty corridor_?"

"They don't call me a genius for nothing," he shrugged.

Evanz moved over to him and copied his seated position. "If this is an automatic program like you say, then shouldn't we be able to overload it?"

"Certainly. If we can force it to reload the setting – sort of like what you were saying before – way too many times then we might be able to crash the device for a nanosecond."

"Giving us time to escape," Peace completed, nodding his understanding. They were all lucid enough to take advantage of the momentary black spot the crash would create, and even if only one of them actually managed to wake up then that person could locate the Inducer and deactivate it. Peace was thankful that the oblivion of an Inducer could only affect people at the moment of activation, or else no one would have been able to go near it at all.

"But how do we accomplish that?" Evanz added, face falling. "We'd need continuous destructive power and unless we really believed in our strength I don't see us smashing down these walls over and over."

"I can do it."

The three of them turned their attention to Potato, whom they had quite forgotten existed for a second since they weren't used to him being there. He met each of their eyes in turn expectantly, awaiting their permission to start.

"I can do it," he repeated, realising that they hadn't understood what he meant. "If I could've gotten though this day without mentioning it I would have, but the fact of the matter is that I am quite strong."

"Strong enough to break walls and such?" Peace queried, a sceptic eyebrow raised.

"Definitely strong enough for that."

"Well," Evanz got to his feet, having noted the confidence in his voice. "Show us what you've got."

Potato nodded once, firmly, pushing up his sleeves as he approached one of the walls. He balled up his fist and drew his arm back but before he began he glanced back at the trio of curious onlookers. "So just keep going, right?"

"Don't stop until we're free," Evanz instructed.

"Got it." Potato turned his focus back to the wall and let his fist fly forward, the impact crashing loudly and the grey plaster immediately becoming covered in wide fissures all the way to the opposite end of the corridor. A millisecond after they had registered the change a wave of dust expelled from the all around them as chunks of the wall crumbled to mere rubble and slabs of the ceiling came crashing down from the stress, one almost hitting Peace in the head. The room literally fell apart around them, but as Rage blinked to keep the dust out of his eyes a strange cold flash passed through him and upon opening them again he found the corridor exactly as it had been before.

"Just keep going," Potato muttered to himself, setting his stance and readying himself to face an indefinite amount of wall-punching.

 

* * *

 

 

Jess worried at her thumbnail as she watched the readings on her portable screen spike repeatedly, unable to see exactly what it was they were doing but knowing it was enough to make the Inducer 2.0 reset itself. Her trap had managed to catch three big fish and one small so she had known it would only have been a matter of time before they came up with a way to escape. She quickly pulled up the base's surveillance feed on her Twitter bracelet and swiped rapidly between each camera, finally halting as she saw movement in one of the vents. Hatter was on her way to Level 100, it seemed; soon the mod would reach R, and everything would be over. It was time for Jess to leave.

"Dammit," Jess sighed with a wistful look at her temporary set up in a hidden corner of the Data-Lock room. So much time had gone into make the new Inducer – testing and refining and testing again – that it was a painful shame to have to leave it behind for the moderators to find and pull apart and develop countermeasures for. Still, if the price to pay for her life was a machine then the hacker couldn't refuse the trade. She shut down her Twitter and got to her feet, carefully stepping up onto the Lock itself and slowly progressing from one surface to another until she was close enough to reach the ceiling, pushing aside the panel and laboriously pulling herself up into the plenum.

As she closed herself in Jess couldn't help but be hit by a wave of déjà vu, finding herself in almost exactly the same situation as when the moderators had come for Disaster. Given that this had been R's plan it was entirely possible that the escape route had been deliberately designed to mirror four years prior, and Jess swore to bring it up with the Boss when she saw her again.  _If_  she saw her again, that was.

"There's a door here!" an excited voice shouted, the sound of someone who had been stuck in the same corridor for a good few hours. Jess shrank back into the darkness as though they would somehow be able to see her through the ceiling, the regular noise of footsteps approaching causing her to tense in fear.

"What is that?" somebody – Evanz, she figured, going by what she had heard the man say in public speeches and such – asked as the group entered the room, the voices becoming noticeably less muffled.

"A Data-Lock," Peace replied. She couldn't see him but part of her hoped that he was admiring the machine she had built – it was, after all, what had kept Open hidden for so long. Until Ezra had broken the limiter, anyway. "They've been shielding their presence using this."

"Need me to destroy it too?" Jess didn't recognise the voice so she guessed it was the small fry Confession who had integrated himself into the group – ‘Potato’ was the name R had provided, along with advice not to get hit by him under any circumstances. Jess wasn't willing to find out why it was necessary to give that warning.

"No, it'll do them no good now we know they're here. Look, there's another way out." Hearing Peace point out the other entrance to the room, Jess strained her ears further to detect when they had all exited. When she was sure they had gone, she waited another few minutes to make absolutely certain none of them would turn back because they could hear her or something. The Boss's plan assumed that everyone would be focussed upon reaching her rather than catching the executives, so as long as Jess stayed out of their way then she ought to be able to go completely unnoticed. She moved aside the panel again and dropped down onto the Data-Lock heavily, shoes squeaking against the metal as she clambered down the side of it. Taking a quick breather, Jess gathered together what pieces of her monitoring equipment she could reasonably carry, shoving them into a backpack and zipping it up roughly. Although she knew exactly where all of the base's cameras were and could avoid them, Jess pulled the hood of her jumper up so that it cast a shadow over her face which, coupled with her goggles, would prevent any facial recognition system from identifying her should they somehow pull footage of her exiting. As far as she could tell, she was the only one going to make it out completely fine; Ezra had been scattered and Rachel had been bound while she was passed out, watched over by one of the mods. Cel was currently fighting and as far as the hacker could tell her opponent was completely outmatched, but one could never be sure what would happen in a battle.

Jess exited the room, casting one last glance back at her creation in the home she had grown accustomed to in the past few years, hoping beyond everything that Cel would escape too.

 

* * *

 

 

Mez couldn't let Cel escape. Criminality aside, Mez couldn't help but be personally invested in the outcome of the battle; winning would prove to Hatter that she was a capable fighter, which in turn meant the mod would have to recognise her as a threat. Mez knew she was considered as only an occasional annoyance – she could see it in Hatter's eyes- and if she ever wanted to make things change then she would have to start by getting her enemy to take her seriously.

Not that Mez was thinking so consciously about that matter at that very moment. Every part of her waking attention was focussed on not letting Cel get the upper hand; she jumped back in time to avoid a nasty swiping kick at her head, countering by letting her weight drop and shoving her foot up underneath the agent's chin. For a second she thought it had connected but to her dismay found that she had missed by a hair's breadth and Cel had grabbed her foot, shoving it to the side and breaking Mez's balance.

Hearing the tell-tale sound of something moving very quickly toward her, the Confession rolled to the side as a foot slammed down where her left knee had been, noting with a level of terror that her opponent had deliberately tried to cripple her. Not wasting the time to keep her dignity by standing, Mez scuttled in reverse before flipping herself around and crawling away, desperate for at least a brief respite to compose a plan. She had talked big to Hatter, certain she could handle herself now that she had been qualified for combat, but found herself sorely wanting in experience battling someone as vicious as Cel. The agent was deceptively harmless in appearance which was probably something she used to make people underestimate her, thus giving her the advantage when it came down to blows. Mez reluctantly admitted she had fallen prey to the prevarication.

Without any warning something heavy crashed into the back of Mez's head, smashing her face against the ground. The Confession was vaguely aware of a metal statue of someone looking very peaceful and the warmth of blood in her hair as Cel gripped her collar and dragged her up, brain still too rattled to do more than ineffectually struggle. The agent didn't gloat or smile as Mez met her eyes, merely blinking before throwing her across the room. The mercenary landed on the work table and the momentum slid her across it until she toppled off the other end and onto the floor, surrounded by a symphony of clattering as everything Lewis had neatly sorted was pushed aside and gripped by gravity. Mez could barely hear Cel's footsteps as she approached, aching as she forced herself to her knees. One hand alighted on a bundle of wires that looked like they'd be ripped out of a lighting fixture or something and she curled her fingers around them instinctively before shuffling around the table to buy a few seconds more. Nearby lay Lewis's unconscious body, unharmed but for the fact he was probably going to grow a large lump on his head, Mez not even sparing him a glance. There would be time for that later. Hopefully.

She felt rather than saw Cel reaching for her again, the Open member's violent aura suddenly spiking in intensity. Mez rolled out of the way and let her body take over as opposed to thinking about all she had learnt for the mercenary exams, tapping into a part of herself that she had once used for day-to-day survival. In a flash the Confession had leapt up onto the table, allowing just one foot to touch the surface and only then to use it as a pivot, switching their positions around so that she was behind. With a small thrust away from the table again she latched onto Cel's back tightly, legs cinched around her waist as she drew the wires around her throat and pulled. Realising what was happening, Cel's hand shot to her neck but found no leeway in the makeshift noose, prompting her to reach behind her. She went straight for the face, fingernails tearing wildly for Mez's eyes and leaving behind trails of bursting pain with every failure. The mercenary bore through the frantic attack even as she began to see red from the blood that had gotten into her eyes, yanking the wires further to gird whatever remained of Cel's air supply.

The agent began to go limp but Mez waited a few seconds more to ensure it wasn't a trick before releasing her hold and letting them both fall to the ground. She was exhausted but still moving on habit and checked to see if Cel's breathing had continued, knowing there was a very fine line between making someone temporarily pass out and permanently killing them. It wouldn't take Cel long to wake up so she quickly glanced about for something to immobilise her, opting for a roll of electrical tape and winding it securely around her wrists and ankles. In the interest of safety, she bound Cel's upper arms to her torso too, and her mouth to prevent her from biting through the tape. Honestly, Mez didn't know whether she was a capable escapist but didn't want to risk the possibility.

"Thank everything for Rvlakia," she muttered to herself, not missing the irony that had it not been for the contents of the work desk she probably would have lost the confrontation. Finally taking note of the state she was in, Mez wiped as much of her blood from her eyes as possible before scooting over to her decommissioned comrade to see if he was alright. "Lewis? Lewis, wake up."


	71. The Game Must Always End

Hatter pressed her back against the machine, feeling the rumble of it in the very deepest part of her bones as her mind tried to deal with the fact that she had found Rvlakia. She thought she had been ready, so very ready to face the person who had been blithely lying to her for the entire time they'd known one another, but now that she was face-to-face with her all she could see was Kia. Just Kia, the helpless girl who had gotten mixed up in a world she didn't know and only wanted to go home. It was fake, and she knew that, but it seemed part of her still refused to accept it.

If it wouldn't have drawn attention Hatter would've slapped herself. Of all the times to hesitate and she chose  _now_? When she was about to end the whole debacle? No, she was a mod, a mercenary: she would be professional. Carefully, she peered around at her enemy again. Rvlakia was still absorbed in interacting with the machine but Hatter couldn't make out exactly what it was she was doing. The Boss was wearing black jeans and a long-sleeved red shirt, her hair tied back in a ponytail; Hatter focussed on the altered appearance, using it as a foundation to reassert her conviction that Rvlakia was not the person she had come to know. Rvlakia was a threat that needed to be dealt with. The sound of a something ringing made her tense slightly, automatically sharpening her hearing in order to find out who was calling in case she could track them down afterward, watching carefully as Rvlakia scowled and raised a secure-line communicator to her ear with her off hand.

" _Néih hóu_ ," she greeted – at least, Hatter assumed it was a greeting. She couldn't quite tell from the cold tone of Rvlakia's voice, and the language barrier wasn't helping either. Faintly she could hear someone reply rapidly but beyond the fact that it was a woman she was unable to ascertain anything about the caller. Rvlakia seemed to be paying duteous attention and the mod hated the mere thought that this Boss may have their own instructions to follow. " _Ngóh mìhngbaahk la. M̀hg_ _ò_ _i_ ," she continued, allowing her free hand to move again as she reached across the control panel to something Hatter couldn't see from her vantage. " _Ngóh oi néih, a poh_." With a decisive twist of her wrist, the communicator was pulled away from her ear and laid down on a spare surface of the grand machine, Rvlakia sighing almost inaudibly during the motion.

Hatter readjusted her weight, not wanting to lose feeling in her legs as she waited for Rvlakia to keep working and provided her a chance to catch her truly off-guard. The girl just stood though, indolently pushing her fingers through her fringe, staring straight ahead of her. Her gaze was slightly unfocussed, Hatter noticed, which made it unlikely she was looking at anything on a screen before her, so why the hesitation? Perhaps something had been said during the call that was cause for concern.

Eventually Rvlakia tipped her head backward and closed her eyes. "You might as well come out, Hatter." Her eyes opened again and she looked directly at where Hatter was crouching, a smirk on her face. "You're awfully terrible at hiding."

Not one to back down – particularly not when she'd been discovered by means unknown to her – Hatter stood and stepped out from behind the machine, facing her enemy head-on with a cold stare to prevent any idea that she might be unsettled. "Have you considered the possibility that you might be unnaturally good a seeking?"

She actually chuckled. "I have considered it, and thence confirmed it on multiple occasions. But I don't want to brag." She turned her sights back to the control panel and absently tapped in more commands with one hand. "How have you been?"

"What, in the day it's been since you revealed yourself as a lying piece of scum? I'm sure you can imagine." Rvlakia was distracted and Hatter knew it was now or never. Anger pooled inside her chest as she braced her feet against the floor, ready to fly forward and deliver the one blow that would bring the Boss down, defenceless and unconscious and easily transferrable to a prison. She wouldn't even know what had hit her.

A cold click echoed dully off of the metal contraption overseeing their reunion and Rvlakia's smile dropped.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned, voice dark and not jovial in the slightest, a tone that disconcerted Hatter deeply as it came from a face she still couldn't help but associate with optimism. "It's rude to attack your host. And just plain stupid to attack someone who has you outmatched." Rvlakia turned herself away from the panel, enabling the mod to see a muzzle pointed straight at her, the weapon held level in the Boss's right hand like it was comfortable there.

Hatter couldn't help but take a tiny step back. "Why do you have a gun?" she asked quietly, completely aware of what kind of damage one could do. It looked old and worn, likely stolen from a museum halfway across the world where it had lain unused for centuries, yet somehow she didn't doubt that Rvlakia of all people would know how to use it to compensate for her lack of physical ability. "That's cheating."

"Isn't it just?" Rvlakia raised her hand and aimed right between Hatter's eyes, her reluctance to abandon theatricality giving the mod a chance to analyse her and determine that she bore no other arms. "I could kill you right now."

"And yet you haven't," she replied. Her best bet was to move with the flow of conversation, extend their time together to provide more opportunities to overpower the Boss and discover exactly what it was she was trying to do. Part of her instinctively knew that as long as she didn't cause trouble while Rvlakia had the upper hand, she wasn't going to be shot.

"It would make this so much easier," Rvlakia said, meeting Hatter's steady gaze. "But you were a worthy opponent and I'd like to see you go a better way than this." She gestured with the weapon to emphasise her point. "That's not to say I always get what I want though." The thinly veiled threat issued, she moved back over to the control panel, though a part of her focus remained on the mod even if she barely looked back at her. "I must admit you got here faster than I expected you to. Was it Cel?"

"What?" Hatter made a cautious step toward the Boss, relieved when there was no response to the shortening of space. Rvlakia tapped her mouth in roughly the same place Hatter's lip had been split, the reminder causing the mod's forgotten injury to throb annoyingly. She wiped away the drying blood automatically. "Right, yeah, Cel."

Rvlakia smiled faintly, inputting commands with her left hand. "She's a dangerous one. Very violent. Couldn't tell you why, if I'm honest."

Hatter snorted. "Because honesty is your philosophy?" She edged closer, the panel finally coming into view. It was a basic screen with a couple of buttons to the side of it, Rvlakia occasionally pressing one between typing strings of unintelligible numbers and letters. A silver disc rested by gravity on the topmost button, the white stone set into the centre enabling Hatter to identify it as one of the bracelets Rvlakia had been wearing when her treachery had been discovered – clearly it was more than just a decoration.

"Come now; I merely exaggerated the truth and let you make up the most convenient lies for yourself. Am I really the one to blame here?"

" _Yes_."

"Fair enough." Rvlakia twisted her head to look at her, brow furrowing slightly as she glance sideways at the large machine. "Do you know why the Queen owns Level 100 of all scrapers?" she asked suddenly, the question catching the mod by surprise due to its menial answer.

"They belong to the royal family. That's just how it is." Hatter frowned, suspecting a second question was interlaced with the first but not knowing what it was.

"Technically, that's true. But  _why_? They certainly don't need all the space."

"Just tell me already," she snapped. "You clearly know, so stop pretending that I can enlighten you."

Rvlakia chuckled, gun lightly bouncing off of her leg a few times at the motion. "There's no fooling you, hmm?" she joked, deliberately prodding at the sore spot the mod wasn't even trying to hide. "The reason is this lovely monstrosity right here," she explained, nodding at the enormous machine before them. "Ever scraper has one and the government really can't afford to have civilians near them, lest there be chaos and destruction and a great deal of panicking. Could you imagine?"

Information clicked into place in Hatter's brain, the familiar and omnipresent vibration recognised as she finally gave it thought alongside Rvlakia's words. "The Atmospheric Convertors," she breathed, a modicum of actual fear setting in as she realised what it was the Boss was currently messing with.

"Bingo! Ten points to the moderators! You know, it took me forever to get into even an unused Level 100, and longer still to discover that dear Mr. Hollow had put safeguards into place on this thing." A brief flicker of irritation crossed her face but was gone before Hatter had really registered it. "Still, they're easy to get by if you have Juke and – oh – look what  _I_ have." She slipped her index and middle fingers around the disc on the panel, holding it up for her opponent to see before sliding it into her pocket. Hatter made a mental note to get her hands on the device if she could, because even if Rvlakia might be lying about Juke being on it it was worth the risk to find out. "And here we go! One last push of a button to set this party in motion!"

Rvlakia had stepped back from the panel slightly in her minute celebration and Hatter knew that this was her final chance to stop the criminal from completing her potentially disastrous plan. She lunged for Rvlakia's right hand, twisting the gun out of her grip before she could even aim it and throwing the weapon across the room, slamming her entire weight against the girl and crashing them both against the side of the AtCon. Rvlakia was audibly winded and Hatter took the opportunity to swing her fist into her face; now it had come down to a physical fight she was going to take out as much of her anger as she could before anyone caught up and stopped her, knowing that Rvlakia was so uncoordinated that she could barely defend herself.

Suffice to say she was dumbfounded, then, when her swing was thrust aside and Rvlakia launched her own attack, thrusting her punch up under the mod's ribs and sending her reeling backwards in both shock and pain, fighting the urge to expel the contents of her stomach. She blinked in confusion at the girl, who gently slid her feet into a place and lowered herself into a stance, neat and formal. Rvlakia's countenance was nigh on peaceful as she met Hatter's gaze, though the steadfast aura she emitted warned the mod of just how deeply she had been tricked into believing the grand lie that was Kia.

"Do you know how  _difficult_  it was," Rvlakia hissed, "to fail every time someone tried to 'teach' me to defend myself? In the past few months there was nothing worse for me, nothing that required more focus than to be  _useless_."

"I'll admit, you had me convinced you were an utterly pathetic novice," Hatter spat, regaining her balance. "But don't think I'll go easy on you now."

"I'm counting on it."

Hatter, not wanting to risk underestimating her enemy again, pushed herself to Desync, watching as every one of Rvlakia's movements slowed down until it was almost like she was frozen in time. The mod rushed forward, swinging her back leg around to connect with the girl's side. Rvlakia's eyes were still trained on hers like she hadn't even noticed the attack, and yet her weight dropped back and a cross-block rejected the hit, opening up Hatter's left for her own identical kick. The mod retreated just in time, using her longer reach to evade the counter. How was this possible? There was no way any normal human could have been faster than her when she was Desynced, yet Rvlakia was nothing but.

"Muscle memory," the Boss said, answering the question as if she had read Hatter's mind, though the confusion had been clearly broadcasted on the mod's face. "It's an amazing thing." She launched a barrage of attacks and though Hatter managed to dodge or block the majority, one or two slipped through her defence before Rvlakia backed off, leaving behind pain in their wake. "You ran from Cel, didn't you? That's how you only got one little cut from her," Rvlakia stated, circling to the side slowly as her gaze still didn't move away from Hatter's face.

"Tactical retreat."

Rvlakia snorted derisively. "You thought Cel was dangerous?" Hatter saw it coming but the straight kick to her head still startled her, having not thought someone so short would attack so high. She dodged backward and, distracted by the previous strike, barely caught the following punch to her jaw, stopping the girl in her tracks as the space between them narrowed significantly. Rvlakia grinned at the startled expression her opponent wore, pushing into the block despite it having no effect. " _Who do you think trained her_?"

Hatter twisted the Boss's arm into an unnatural position but she spun out of it, resuming her earlier stance as though the previous altercation hadn't happened. The pair continued to trade blows, moments of calm rest between flurries of activity, both landing an equal amount of hits even though Hatter was using her advantage to the full; at some point Rvlakia openly began to laugh and talk to her as though they were having tea and not trying to incapacitate one another.

"Come on, surely you can do better than that? A child hits heavier than you!"

"Shut up," Hatter grunted, missing yet again.

"I'm ashamed! I honestly thought you were capable of, I don't know, breaking at least one of my bones? I'll barely have a bruise at this rate."

"Shut up."

Rvlakia blocked her punch with one arm and used the other to hammer it out of the way, the first limb bouncing back and shoving up under Hatter's chin. "Fight me, Hatter! How can you protect anyone if you're weaker than me? It's no wonder so many people have died! Your mother, your father–"

"Shut up!" Another kicked blocked and returned.

"–an entire scraper, even Downfall himself–"

"Shut up!" Two punches dodged.

"–everyone you knew, your friends, Lisa, Pyro, Mineos,  _Garves–"_

Enough was enough. Hatter surged forward, relishing the surprise on Rvlakia's face as she drove her backward and pinned her against the Convertor heavily, both of the girl's arms raised to block against Hatter's as the mod ramped up the pressure to crush her throat and the space between them inched smaller at the sheer quantity of anger-fuelled force.

"I told you to shut up," Hatter snarled, impatient as Rvlakia continued to resist. "You don't make light of another person's pain!" The Boss's gaze flicked up from where their arms met, the angle between their faces reminding Hatter of how small she really was, how unthreatening she had once appeared to be. She was so consumed in her fury that only the sight of Rvlakia's lips moving alerted her to the mumbled reply.

"No," she breathed, "you don't." There was a look in Rvlakia's eyes, inches away from Hatter's own, an odd look the mod couldn't place. The expression didn't make any sense to her and she found herself unable to comprehend what it meant. It wasn't smug. It wasn't joking. But it  _was_  distracting.

Taking advantage of her hesitation, Rvlakia swept her foot behind Hatter's left knee and pulled it out from under her, causing the mod to stumble slightly. Like water the Boss slipped out from the pin and dashed toward the previously cast away gun, training it on Hatter to keep her where she was.

"This is over," she stated firmly but quietly as she sidestepped to the control panel and pressed the last button. Immediately a grinding noise sounded from inside the AtCon and the constant whirring lowered in frequency and pitch until it cut out entirely, making everything seem dead from the lack of vibration that they both had become accustomed to. Part of them felt like it was missing, never having noticed the effect of the Convertor until it was turned off, leaving their senses in a state of confused incompletion. "Believe it or not, I am sorry for this," Rvlakia said as she stepped around the machine slightly, unhooking a maintenance ladder and letting it slide down to the floor, metal feet scraping through the laminate as she ensured it was stable. Carefully at first, then more confident as she gained a feel for the rungs, she raised herself from the ground until she reached the ceiling, aware of Hatter's eyes boring into her the entire time. The only thing blocking her from leaving Level 100 now was a hatch, the same kind as at the Outer Wall, and in a practised motion she spun the wheel on it and pushed it aside. "Do you know what the funniest part of this was?" she asked, looking back down at her foe and leaning toward her slightly, weapon outstretched. "This doesn't even  _work_."

Before Hatter could absorbed the words Rvlakia had let go of the gun, letting it fall heavily to the ground as she scampered up and out of sight. Without the threat of being shot looming over her Hatter darted after the girl, ignoring the weapon now that it had been revealed as useless and opting instead to chase straight after her quarry. How far away was Hollow? Sky? Evanz? There was no guarantee they'd would catch up in time to apprehend Rvlakia and though Hatter had failed at preventing her from shutting down the life-vital system of the scraper she damn well wouldn't let her get away without punishment for doing so. Rvlakia hadn't even bothered to close the hatches behind her and Hatter felt the harsh whip of wind reaching for her before she had even exited the ladder shaft, nearly getting knocked off of her feet through sheer unpreparedness for the onslaught of force.

The roof of the tower was bleak, empty but for the functional part of the Convertor and the four lift points, and bearing a perimeter of only a low wall to prevent someone from falling off accidentally. Hatter had never known that there was another way up to the top than the lifts but she made mental note of it in case she ever had to use the information again. The Mist was low above her and roiling in a way she had never seen it do so, unsettled now that it wasn't being deterred by a marvel of engineering and already creeping downwards. Rvlakia stood a few metres away, enraptured by the tumult overhead. She was silent, and something about the image was so elegiac and familiar that it lodged itself inside Hatter's memory without her even knowing why, making her falter to attack the girl again. The atmosphere was different out here, something safe within its confines and unminacious.

"Why?" Hatter found herself asking before she knew it, still staring at Rvlakia. The girl looked over her shoulder, but didn't flee.

"Why did I do this?"

"No." She paced closer to her, straining to see what she was so fascinated by in the Mist. "Why did you choose me? Of all the people you could have tricked to get to Juke, and it was me? Because I arrested Disasterwound?"

She could imagine a faint smile appearing on Rvlakia's face as she turned away. "I had my suspicions it was you but… that wasn't the reason. I thought perhaps that you were like me. I had hoped… it doesn't matter. You don't have it."

"If I did have whatever you're talking about, would it have stopped you from sentencing thousands of people to death when the Mist falls?" She was beside Rvlakia now and couldn't help but notice again how small she seemed.

"No, but you would have understood why without having to ask." She sighed. "Though I suppose after all this I may as well explain to you. This world is broken, and has been for a long time. Tell me, do you know what the term 'evolution' means?"

Hatter frowned wracking her brain. "Not really."

"The adaptation of a species dependent on the environment. In terms of humanity, though, it would be progress, making ourselves better. If you'd ever looked into what little history we have you'd know that that was once the case. But we've been stagnant for millennia, trapping ourselves in the same buildings and just fixing them up when they start to fall apart." She glanced down at her feet momentarily. "Humanity has lost something. Rather, most of humanity has."

"But not you?"

"Not me. And not Cel either. Nor Jess. I'd wager that's why we seemed like such a difficult opponent to you lot. I haven't pinpointed the exact cause of why we're different from everyone else, and the signs are subtle but they  _are_  there. Once you know what to look for, it becomes simple."

Hatter looked down at her and was surprised to see Rvlakia also staring at her, though the Boss quickly averted her gaze. "And those signs are?"

"Intelligence Ratings going haywire. I see by your reaction you found my results? Something about us confuses the testers so they give different readings even minutes after one gets rated. Eventually you hit 10 and stop going."

"So… Hollow and Rage…?"

"I'm not sure. They might really be geniuses. I'd need to ask them something to be sure."

"Just the one question is enough to figure it out?"

"Yes. I wonder what's out there. Like, if you just started sailing, what might you find?" Upon hearing the words Hatter found herself transported back to a precariously thin ledge being battered by salt-crusted air as she paid far more attention to her precious ward than to the endless scene beyond them. "I've gotten quite good at working out if someone is like me from their answer to that." Rvlakia sighed.

Hatter had a feeling that there was more that was almost being said but never would be, not pressing for it since she knew Rvlakia would withdraw from giving any information at all if she was disturbed from whatever strange reverie she was currently in. "So why the slaughter of the innocents below us right now?"

"That's exactly the problem. You think I'm murdering them, but I'm  _not_. I'm saving them."

"I'd be lying if I said I believed that," someone scoffed from behind them, causing the pair to turn in sync to see Fluke clearly having some difficulty standing but stubborn enough to not accept help from Hollow or Walama, who seemed to have an unusual penchant for keeping her head slightly tilted to the left. The trio had snuck up on them by no other means than that both Hatter and Rvlakia had been extremely distracted. Far behind them the mercenary could just about make out one of the maintenance lift doors opening and another group spilling out, though there was no sign of Sky, Eryn, Lewis or Mez amongst them.

"Believe me; don't believe me. It doesn't matter either way," Rvlakia stated coldly, the beginnings of a glare starting to form on her face. "There's nothing you can do to change it now.”

"Were you referring to the Atmospheric Convertor discrepancy?" someone asked, the sound coming from Walama's direction though the voice was Figit's. Hatter paid it little heed since Hollow didn't seem to mind it but was secretly very glad that she wasn't the only one disturbed by it, judging from the thin line Rvlakia's mouth had pulled into. "I wasn't aware that anyone had noticed it."

"There's  _actually_  a problem with the AtCon?" Fluke blinked incredulously.

"Certainly," Rvlakia replied in Figit's stead, readily taking the chance to flout her understanding at the head of the BBC. "We've been told it protects us from the Mist but as far as I can tell, all it's doing is keeping us trapped in it. Maybe some people will die in the process of fixing it, but it'll surely be better in the long run."

"So you're some sort of hero? I always knew this girl had problems." Fluke rolled his eyes. "Is there a reason she isn't restrained, Hatter?"

If the mercenary had any decent reply to that she would have given it, but since even she didn't know why she had allowed Rvlakia to remain unbound for so long she kept her mouth shut, retrieving the set of standard handcuffs she had stored in one of her bandoliers for occasions such as this. Rvlakia soundlessly allowed her wrists to be locked together, the both of them noting the harsh metal of the cuffs in comparison to the comfort of the pseuvi they had come to regard as normal, even comforting at times. Neither of them said as much to the other.

"What'd we miss?" Potato asked, jogging over to where the group was stood as he finally was within hearing range; Peace and Evanz followed close behind whilst Rage was still a little way off, flagging from the fast pace they'd adopted in order to reach them sooner.

"Not much," Figit stated simply.

"You caught the bad guy though," Potato grinned, though his eyes had narrowed at the strangeness that currently was Walama. "Kia walks free no more."

"Rvlakia…" Hatter muttered under her breath, habitually correcting him though no one could possibly have heard her. The girl in question was, inexplicably, smiling as though she'd just remembered a great joke she'd once been told.

"I win," she said clearly and plainly.

"What?" Fluke scowled, perturbed by her declaration. "People are still going to die because of what you've done; you said so yourself. This isn't a  _game_  you know."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it? And yet I can't help but remember how well I played you all. I said,  _I win,_  dammit! Concede defeat already!"

Hatter's eyes met with Peace's and the silent concern that Rvlakia might actually have gone insane was shared between them. Peace was even considering the need for psychiatric evaluation once she was in prison.

That was, until someone answered.

"You win," Hollow said, his facial expression not budging in the slightest even though he was now bombarded on all sides by bewildered telepathic queries. "Though I don't know what you expect to gain hereon out, since you've already taken your prize."

"I didn't want anything more than that," Rvlakia smirked contentedly.

"Hollow, what on Earth are you talking about?" Evanz asked, a note of distrust in his tone, but it was the Boss who answered in his stead.

"You lot didn't  _really_  think I got through this without help, did you? Granted, the only help was that he wouldn't be the one to reveal me, but still." Her eyes met with Hollow's. "He sees what I did. I know. But he couldn't just let me turn off a Convertor without good reason now, could he? So we made a bet to see whether I could get to the point of powering one down on my own, which, as you can tell, I already did." She laughed, but Hatter didn't like the way it sounded. Something about the emotion behind it grated inside her, like it was a sick and broken part of Rvlakia that emitted the noise. "By the way, I sent a virus with the command to all the other Convertors in the city, so you can't go back on the deal now. It's all being shut down!"

"You're fucking crazy," Fluke said, ignoring the fact that Hollow had done something so improper behind literally everyone's backs and seemed unconcerned about it. There would be a lot of talking later, arguing too, about what should be done regarding both him and the impending crisis of the Mist sinking as it was already visibly doing so. "I don't think I'll ever be so glad to see someone get locked away as you," he spit at Rvlakia.

"About that… I'm not sure I want to go to prison." Hatter realised she'd let down her guard a moment too late, Rvlakia's conjoined hands smashing down on the back of her neck before she could lock her movements and sending the mod face down to the ground. The all too recognisable sound of someone running away flooded Hatter's heart with fear and adrenaline and within a heartbeat she was back on her feet again, chasing after Rvlakia before anyone else had even noticed what had happened beyond wearing startled faces. Rvlakia was fast now, clearly desperate to get away despite there being nowhere to go as Hatter herded her toward the corner of the scraper. The fact that there was no escape should have comforted the mercenary and yet somehow it just made her stomach sink like every fibre of her being knew something bad was about to happen.

"Stop!" she shouted, and the twitch of Rvlakia's head informed her she'd been heard. "There's no way out of this! You had to have known it would end up this way! So why did you do it?"

Rvlakia reached the edge of the scraper and halted abruptly, twisting on her heels to face Hatter as she closed in. The mod was vaguely aware of her comrades following but they were all far enough behind that she had a few more moments to speak with Rvlakia alone.

"I told you what I wanted, not long after we met," Rvlakia said, out of breath but standing perfectly straight even as the wind tugged at her hair and tried to pull her over. "I made a bet with Hollow and I made one with you too, and I'd thank you to remember it at least, even if you won't honour it."

"What are you talking about?" Hatter replied, having to raise her voice. The ambient noise here was much louder than at the centre of the roof, something she had to take into account.

Rvlakia didn't answer, just reached awkwardly into her pocket to remove something. "Catch," she instructed, casting the thing up in the air. Hatter instinctively switched her attention to it for the brief second needed to catch it, finding herself now in possession of the disc that supposedly contained the last copy of Juke in existence. When she looked up from it she found to her dismay that Rvlakia had taken advantage of her distraction to step backwards and up onto the ledge that bordered the top of the scraper, looking back over her shoulder at the abyss below. As the Boss's face turned to look at her once more the mod's heart actually stopped. There it was again. That look. That peculiar look from when she'd had the girl pinned that Hatter hadn't yet placed. But in that moment – that tiny, infinitesimal moment before everything changed – it clicked. That look was Kia. It was Rvlakia. It was a terrible, terrible sadness.

"It was fun."

Hatter's brain kicked her into Desync as Kia took one final step backwards and she lurched forward, arms outstretched. She heard screaming but was unable to recognise her own voice or feel the pain as her ribs slammed into the ledge when she leant across it, reaching downward in the futile attempt to catch her; all she could grab was chill air, Rvlakia already disappeared into the Mist that pooled about the Ground Level she had once risen from. The others had caught up but Hatter couldn't hear them, could only stare down at the grey and wonder why it had stolen her friend from her as some invisible being twisted a knife into her gut.

 

 

Kia was gone.


	72. Where Do We Go From Here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for an epilogue!

Hatter groaned, squeezing her eyes shut the moment after she opened them, face warmed by the light streaming through her window. Having forgotten to close her curtains yet again she was now suffering the consequences of living like she was two years younger than she was, lying on top of the bed covers fully clothed and already irritable. She groggily reached out to the bedside table for the clock to check what time it was, cursing as she felt herself knock something off of it. With great reluctance, Hatter inched her eyelids apart to allow a narrow sliver of light to hit her retinas, sight adjusting to the brightness as she twisted so her upper body draped off the side of the mattress. Now slightly able to see, she reached for the item that had been rudely disturbed from its usual resting place.

The cold metal of the cube jolted her mind a tiny bit as it made contact with her skin and Hatter couldn’t help but stare at the Inducer sitting in her hand. It had been inactive for so long but the apprehension she felt toward it still remained, regular as the rivulets of circuitry embossed on the faces. More awake now she sat up properly, turning the cube over in her hand a few times before setting back where it belonged next to the cylinder of Mist that had once occupied the same place on Rvlakia’s desk. For some reason, the mod hadn’t handed it over to be catalogued and shipped off to a museum or research centre like the rest of the collection, instead smuggling it away with herself. As with the Inducer, part of her refused to let go of it, clinging to the object to solidify Kia’s brief existence in her memories.

Hatter sighed, flipping the cylinder upside down to watch the Mist fall in dirty, beautiful swirls whilst the lump of red compound remained in perfect equilibrium between the two densities. All her scanning of the material had still revealed no matches to any known substance, and she often wondered if she would ever discover what is was, or even if she wanted to. Rolling back her shoulders and hearing the joints in her back pop, Hatter got to her feet, quickly preparing herself for the day ahead. On went the bandoliers, then the coat, then she carefully pulled a necklace around her hair. Well, to call it a necklace wasn’t quite right, since it was just a chain onto which she had hooked the Bat nucleus recovered from the Outer Wall; it held no explosive properties but could be used as a power source if she ever needed one in an emergency, and it was always best to be prepared for those.

**_Good morning, Hatter. How are you?_ **

“Good, Juke,” she answered, waiting patiently to be let out of her room.

**_I’ll open the door then._ **

She strode out into the Common, finding herself thankful yet again that they had been able to recover Juke. Honestly, she didn’t know what they would have done without him, and though he was an incorporeal computer program there was no doubt now that he was also a friend, one nobody could stand to lose again. Letting her mind wander, Hatter made her way into the closest elevator and descended to the next Level, pacing through the workshop without a second thought to the unknown contraptions she was surrounded by. “Morning, Cally,” she greeted as she approached the central desk, catching sight of the programmer as he was staring blankly at a computer screen. Drawn out from his reverie, Peace leant so far back in his chair that he was looking at the world upside down.

“Right back at you. What’re you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be catching a boat to Switzerland?”

“I had to pick up these,” Hatter explained, gesturing to a case Hollow had left for her before sitting on the desk and lifting the lid. It opened with a satisfying _click_ to reveal pristine cylinders which she began to place into the slots on her bandoliers. “Besides, Leni had to delay our journey to tomorrow thanks to that riot the other day.”

“Right,” Peace nodded, the action looking rather peculiar due to his head being the wrong way up. “What’s your cover this time? Bodyguard?”

“Aide,” Hatter corrected, sliding the final capsule into place. “So what were you watching?” she queried, eyes alighting on the paused image before him. The scene was instantly recognisable and she found she hadn’t needed to ask at all.

“I was just reviewing the footage.” Peace sat straight again, pulling the time back a few minutes. “I feel like I missed something.”

“Don’t we always?” the mercenary muttered under her breath, fixated as he pressed play and she could see the two people on screen begin to converse. Cel and Disasterwound, sat across from each other in a secure prison room and monitored by several guards just in case they somehow got free of their restraints, a biannual assembly that not a single person felt comfortable with besides the convicts themselves. Ordinarily, maximum security prisoners would not have been allowed near each other but they each, according to a human rights law, were able to request a meeting with whomever they chose once per year. Previously, Disaster had always sent for people he knew full well would never be able to attend, but ever since Cel had been apprehended they had only asked for one another. Each time the conversations were menial, like old friends catching up, discussing the state of the prison or their fellow inmates or sometimes the guards but never anything about the outside world – and yet anyone who watched the recordings got the feeling that more was being said, information passing between hands in a subtle code that none of them had been able to crack. Four times the meetings had taken place, and four times Cel and Disaster had returned to their life of confinement with content, almost smug smiles on their faces whilst the mods were left in frustration.

Hatter shook her head to dispel the ugly mood before it could set in, not wanting her day to be ruined by that eerily similar duo again. “Good luck finding something,” she said, hopping off of the desk and straightening her coat. Peace glanced back at her.

“Where’re you off to then?”

“Just going out,” she replied, starting her path back to the lift. “I’ve got an extra day so I might as well use the time.”

“Fair enough. Oh, the forecast said it’s going to be bright by this afternoon so keep that in mind!” His volume rose as she grew increasingly further away, Hatter raising a little wave to indicate that she had heard.

Again her mind wandered as she journeyed to and crossed Level 50, body automatically navigating the masses of civilians as they went about their daily lives. There was the occasional turned head as someone caught sight of her trademark hat, and she was aware of a little boy straight up staring at her on the train, but she paid them no heed since reacting to the curiosity only made them more interested in her than they had been initially. Being an urban legend had both its perks and drawbacks.

Understandably, Hatter’s thoughts kept returning to 3 W, events which she had desperately tried to bury in her mind before being forced to come to terms with them at the pressure of a psychology mercenary Danni and Leni had pushed at her. That didn’t stop her from having nightmares for the past week as the second anniversary passed by, nor the hesitation she felt whenever she met somebody new, but overall she had found herself better off for it, quite unexpectedly so. It had helped her to forgive Hollow for keeping secrets from them, though she knew some people still held a low degree of animosity toward him for doing so, monitoring what he did simply through the fear that he could still be hiding information that they needed. They were still friends of course, and could happily work together and hang out and do all the things they used to, but there would always be that niggling doubt at the backs of their minds, even though everything had turned out surprisingly fine.

As she got off the train it suddenly occurred to Hatter that she had forgotten to get a gift so she darted into a small station shop in search of something suitable, browsing through the small but wildly diverse sections that sat next to one another like the squares on a chessboard. The mod had always been good at presents but for some reason the ideal purchase always escaped her when she made this particular visit, not really being close enough to know what sorts of things the recipient liked. She frowned as she dismissed the idea of chocolate since it never tasted that great when bought from such a cheap store.

“Well look who it is!” someone called out and it took a moment for the mercenary to realise the comment was directed at her. “If it isn’t Hatter herself,” Matt continued as he drew near, having noticed her through the open shop front and thus entering. “What are you doing in this part of the city?”

“Hospital,” she replied succinctly. Matt nodded in understanding, standing beside her as she stared at the shelves.

“I was just there myself. Colleague was injured in the riot,” he elaborated. Upon receiving only a distracted grunt his gaze flicked from Hatter to what she was studying, putting two and two together. “I suggest a book. You can never really go wrong with those, as I’m sure you know.” Hatter looked at him as though amazed she hadn’t had the idea herself and Matt chuckled, leading her to the next aisle over and plucking a hardback off of the top shelf and handing it over. “This one’s looking to be a bestseller already.”

Hatter examined the deliberately distressed cover, senses confused by the visual design and the crisp lines of the binding, pages as white as though it had been printed only minutes prior. “’Right Where We Belong’?” she queried, reading the faded title on the front. “What’s it about?”

“Some apocalyptic world. I haven’t actually read it myself yet, but I have reliable information that says it’s a good read.” Hatter nodded and they moved over to the counter, where Matt quickly checked the time on the display on the wall behind it. “Oops, I’ve got to go or I’ll miss my train. See you around.”

He flashed her a smile as he turned on his heel, hands shoved into his pockets as he left. Hatter placed her thumb on the payment scanner she was being proffered and waited for it to make the subsequent deduction from her bank, nodding her thanks to the shop assistant as she took her spoils and left. The hospital wasn’t that far from the station, only three Levels up and making it only fifteen minutes before she was automatically waved past the front desk without having to sign in. Having visited before it didn’t take too long for her to get where she needed to be, the hospice wing full of pleasant-faced nurses who gave her chary looks when they saw the way she was dressed. True, she didn’t fit in the artificially home-like environment, but then she hadn’t done so for a long time.

When she reached the right room she found that the door was already open but knocked anyway, alerting the inhabitant to her presence. Walama looked up immediately, moving just her head to find out who was there and though she didn’t smile beyond a faint turning of her lips when she saw Hatter the mod knew it wasn’t because she was disliked. Wala was sitting in a chair by the windowed wall, facing out at the next scraper over and basked in the light shining from overhead. Her arms lay lightly on the rests, unmoving even as she beckoned her guest over with her head.

“How are you doing?” Hatter asked as she joined the Confession, sitting across from her in another chair that completed the symmetry of the window. The room was a good one, comfortable, paid for out of her own money in apology and goodwill.

Walama rolled her eyes at the question. “Apparently you have _one_ seizure and you get sent right back here for another month.” She sighed heavily.

“You know we can’t take any risks,” Hatter reminded her, although she could understand Wala’s frustration at being cooped up. If anything it was worse for the Confession, since she had been accustomed to being surrounded by many different people and here she was treated somewhat like a criminal who wasn’t allowed to do anything on their own. “Besides, you’re only being kept for so long because it happened to coincide with your diagnostic exam. How was that, by the way?”

Walama’s eyes looked away slightly. “Not great.” She didn’t elaborate so Hatter didn’t pursue the topic, respecting the small degree of privacy she still managed to cling to.

After a few long moments of silence, Hatter raised the book she had purchased from her lap where it had gone forgotten for a while. “I brought you something,” she smiled, letting Walama get a good look at the title. “The audio key is inside the back cover, if you wanted me to set it up for you?”

“No, I’ll get one of those nurses to do that later. I have to finish Lavs’s new book first.”

“Oh, right; it is good, isn’t it?”

“Quite. I particularly liked when the detective was revealed as a Dragon.”

“Caused a bit of a stir, that did. It’s not often they’re on the good side.”

“No. But it’s remarkably well portrayed. Almost as if Lavs consulted one of us properly.”

The two of them discussed the story until they had exhausted every point they could think of to make, following the conversation with a comfortable silence born from the unexpected companionship they had formed over the past few years. There’s was no need for extended talk, not when the both of them would only be keeping secrets from one another, and it relieved them from the pressure of having to make the small pretences they upheld in front of other friends.

“So what’s Figit been up to these days?” Hatter asked, finally feeling the time was right to continue conversing.

“The same as he always has been,” Walama replied, indicating a shrug with her voice though not her shoulders. “He passes through quite often, though he isn’t entirely aware of that. We’ve set a date to meet at the end of the week.”

Hatter leant forward in her chair slightly, staring out of the window and trying to see if she could make out any people in the next scraper. “Oh? What will you be doing?”

“He wanted to try bowling. Personally, I can’t wait to throw something again.” Wala looked down at her hands, motionless even as she thought about how easily they would move with Figit’s assistance.

“Sounds like fun. So you–” Before Hatter could finish her question somebody walked into the room. She twisted herself around to discover who it was, seeing Mez striding in with her attention focussed down at the roll of paper she was holding in her hands. It explained why, when she looked up, the Confession was seemingly caught off guard by Hatter’s presence.

Hatter couldn’t help but feel guilty every time she saw Mez now. Her face was lined with sets of scars that were ignorable from far away but concerningly bold up close, though healed a great deal from when they had been angry and red as if someone had set fire to her skin. Hatter didn’t know what kind of force Cel had used to make what should have been mere scratches so terrible, or what chemical may have been lacing her fingers as the wounds still refused to close properly long after they should have completely disappeared. If Hatter hadn’t left Mez alone to fight the Open agent, would she have perhaps been unscathed? Would she have continued with her attacks which, though annoying, were also somewhat fun?

“Um,” the junior mercenary stammered, glancing between the seated pair as she realised what she had walked in on. “Okay, I’ll let you finish whatever you’re doing. Let me just leave this here for you.” She placed the paper onto Walama’s bed before hurriedly backing out of the room. Hatter stood and made her way to the scroll, pulling it open and flattening it out with her hands. Blueprints, for a modified version of Dragon tech. The design - like the many others Mex had already collected for them - would be examined thoroughly to deepen understanding of how exactly the Dragons worked and develop countermeasures for the side-effects they usually came with, not least to help Walama regain full control of her body. So far there had been no breakthroughs but Hatter knew it was just a matter of time until a solution was found.

“What is it?” Wala asked, trying to peer at the paper despite the awkward angle she was at making it impossible for her to see anything.

“Looks like a heart this time,” Hatter answered, rolling the blueprint up again and tucking it into her pocket. “I ought to bring this back,” she added, the apology in her voice made apparent.

“Have a safe journey,” Walama nodded. Hatter turned to exit and as she was under the lintel of the doorway the Confession added, “An old friend brought you a birthday present.”

The mod didn’t need to look back to know Wala had just made one of her predictions, leaving the room entirely. Down the hallway to her left she could see Mez sitting on a bench, waiting for her cue to see her friend. Hatter turned away and made her departure out the front of the building again, waiting to see exactly what the prediction had meant. Potato had once told her that, after time, Walama’s words could be understood and prepared for and now Hatter knew what that felt like, aware that whatever events were about to take place would happen very soon. Her suspicion turned out to be correct as when she exited the lift on Level 50 a woman bearing a mercenary badge approached her.

“Hatter?” she queried, holding a box and a device that announced her job as a courier. The mod nodded. “Okay, I need you to confirm you received this,” the woman said, holding out the device to which Hatter put her thumb. After a moment or two a small beep was made and the device was placed into a pouch on the courier’s belt before she handed over the package. “Here you go. Have a nice day.”

Hatter gave her thanks as the woman departed, examining the box curiously. It wasn’t large, maybe 10 centimetres each way, made of plain cardboard that looked as if it had been repurposed from a larger commercial box. A piece of paper, folded twice, was stuck to the top.

Not wanting to miss her train Hatter decided to wait to see what she had been given, hopping onto the carriage at the last second and securing herself a seat away from everyone else in there. Already she could feel someone watching her and she couldn’t help but wonder why she was so closely scrutinised on trains, of all places, every time she took one. Was it the enclosed space? Or that people didn’t think she could see them? Well, it wasn’t something she cared to bother with so she ignored the old lady staring at her, instead setting the box down on her lap and reaching into the pocket on the inner side of a bandolier to retrieve her sunglasses. Peace had been completely right and the light now shining into the train was focussed to the point of blinding, the darkened barrier of the eyepieces providing a soothing regulator for her retinas. Ever since Rvlakia had crashed the AtCon across London the Mist had slowly been clearing until about a year ago, when it finally retreated out to sea and only made the occasional appearance in the city as it was carried in by air currents. The populace had finally been able to discover what the infamous Sun looked like and (Hatter included) had also discovered that the sudden increase in light intensity was too much for their eyes to bear, particularly on days with no cloud. The mod had to admit, blue skies were remarkably fascinating, a lighter shade than she had thought they could be even after seeing Kia’s Induced dream, but at the same time they were impossibly painful in several different ways. And also problematic, since a whole series of conferences had had to be held across the world to convince cities to turn off their Convertors – which were actually holding the Mist in place rather than protecting them from it – not to mention the rioting from people who still refused to believe the deactivation was a good thing. Honestly, it was almost unmanageable but for the assistance of Danni and Leni on the political front and the other mods holding down disturbed civilians.

Sunglasses comfortably in place, Hatter turned her attention to the box resting on her lap and peeled off the paper, straightening it to hopefully find out who had sent the package to her.

 

_Hatter,_

_This was inside my shop this morning. It was addressed to you so I figured it was better to not open it and just send it your way (I’m sure you can see why I justified the price of a mercenary, no?). Here’s hoping it isn’t something that will kill us all._

_Katie_

 

Within the first sentence Hatter had felt herself tense up, knowing that Katie’s job as an informant resulted in abnormally thorough security on the store which made it very difficult for anyone to sneak in there, let alone get out without her knowing who it was. Katie had been right to be cautious, and Hatter could only hope there wasn’t a timer on whatever was inside the box; it would be terrible if a bomb detonated at that exact moment, for example. Of course, it could be from a reclusive ally – she did have those – but the possibility of that being the case was far less so it wasn’t worth risking the benefit of the doubt.

“Gubiak,” she began, turning her head away from the old woman (who was _still_ staring) because she didn’t appear to be blinking at all which was beyond creepy, “I need you to warn Hollow that I’m potentially bringing in something dangerous.”

 **On it** , Gubiak replied immediately, the voice quiet but loud enough for only her to hear due to the proximity to her ears. The earring communicators were so useful. **Shall I tell Peace as well?**

“Of course.” Even though Juke had been recovered, Hollow had found it prudent to develop Gubiak into a fully-fledged CI as well, allowing him to take over the duties of communication whilst Juke focussed on security. The two programs were locked into a dual network, each holding back-up copies of the other so that if one was disabled the other could restore them almost immediately. And to take them both out at once? Well, it was nigh impossible, Hollow’s ‘extra saves for emergencies only’ notwithstanding.

Hatter had to stop herself from fiddling with the box too much, concerned that it might perhaps be motion sensitive. Although, thinking about it, she doubted that was the case since the courier had to have jostled it more than a little on the way to making her delivery. The rest of the train journey was consumed with exploration of the possible contents and countermeasures to each so Hatter barely noticed that she got off of the train (followed by the unnerving old lady) and made her way to the closest maintenance lift, nor was she entirely aware that she’d conversed with Juke to gain access to the workshop again. It was difficult to resist opening the box but Hatter kept reminding herself that last time something like this happened Fluke’s secretary had to be quarantined.

“Where’d it come from?” Peace asked her hastily as he joined her on the way over to the central desk, taking the package and examining it for any markings to indicate who had sent it.

“It was left at an informant’s locale. Quite wisely, they passed it on without opening it.”

“They’ve got good senses then,” he praised lightly. “Juke scanned it on your way here and it doesn’t appear to contain any contaminants so it should be safe to open.”

Hatter frowned. “I don’t like the way you say ‘should’.”

“Habit,” he shrugged. They reached the desk where Hollow was waiting for them and lurked on either side of him as he took the box and cut the packing tape used to hold the sides together. With the obstructions removed, two small items were revealed. Peace immediately pointed to the larger one, a rounded disc ringed with purple lights that looked disturbingly familiar. “Isn’t that one of _our_ gravity manipulators?”

Hollow’s brow furrowed as he picked it up. “It’s one of my prototypes, yes.” He flipped it over to read a tiny serial number on the side without an activation button. “This one’s been missing from the inventory for a few years.” That meant that there hadn’t been a security breach as of late, which was greatly relieving since that in turn meant that he didn’t need to question the integrity of his updated CI system. He put the manipulator back down and cautiously plucked the other item from the bland bed of cardboard. It was an ovular stone, polished and round on one side whilst the other was flat; the rich green colour of the stone immediately made Hollow run through a list of possible compound matches in his head even as he handed it over to the plainly curious Peace.

“What is this?” the programmer asked. “Jade?”

“Very likely. I’m thinking it might be nephrite.”

“Could be. Look at this.” Peace had turned the stone so that the flat face – which one might usually expect to be the underside – was upward, revealing a basic carved pattern of a snake looping around a symbol that was definitely not English. “I’ve seen designs like this bit before, on decorations. It’s a circular form of a Chinese character.”

“Then it probably is nephrite.” Hollow frowned. The stone looked pure and the Chinese were well known for not letting any pure jade leave the city without a permit, and even that came with a high toll. It had been heard of for criminal cases to be harsher against jade smugglers than even murderers, and somehow he doubted that this particular gem had made it to London by legal means. “I don’t recognise the symbol though.”

“Nor me,” Peace shook his head. “Hatter?”

She took the stone from him and studied the design for a while. “I don’t know it.”

“Damn.” She handed it back and he looked at it for a little longer before pulling a reader across the desk and placing the stone on it, for surely if it had been sent specifically to them then it contained a message. Not to mention jade – even impure forms of it – was one of the best compounds for storing data.

With baited breath the three of them waited the few short moments it took for the reader to accept the stone and load the information, moments that felt much longer than they actually were before the monitor lit up and displayed a video of all things. Hollow absently turned the volume up, not wanting to miss any clues. The scene displayed was that of the back of a chair against a backdrop of stark wall. Whoever was sitting in the chair was obscured by it entirely until they raised their hand to show them holding the very same gravity manipulator they had just received.

“It’s been very useful, this,” a disembodied voice said, flourishing the device a little to make it clear what they were talking about. The voice was female and though the tone was lower and minutely menacing, Hatter had to take a step back and lean on the desk to keep herself upright because it was a voice she had come to know so instinctively over the course of more than two months with it almost every waking hour. “I’ve always wanted to be a theatrical villain,” the speaker chuckled, spinning the chair around so that she was facing the camera properly, reclined calmly in a seat that was obviously made for someone with a greater size but somehow not looking overpowered by it.

“No no no no no no no…” spilt out of Hatter’s mouth before she could filter the thoughts and confusion smashing around her brain, Hollow and Peace moving in strange jerky motions as it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to Desync or not. This wasn’t happening. She was dreaming. She _had_ to be. She had seen this girl _die_ , had failed to understand her intention and reach her in time. And yet her voice was so real, her face the same as Hatter remembered it despite the years that had passed, and just knowing that she was still out there made something click back into place inside that she hadn’t realised had been taken out, a gear that completed the mechanism and made the world feel more right than it had done in a long while.

Rvlakia lowered the device and leant forward, smirking as her eyes met Hatter’s even though she was just a recording.

 

“Did you miss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends the Gas Phase... and the whole story with it. 
> 
> Speaking of which, if you have reached the end and find yourself mildly wishing for a physical copy of this book, then just hop on over to Amazon and search my name to find it :)


End file.
